Miku's Office Love Affair
by Christopher-San
Summary: With a less than perfect relationship with Kaito, and the introduction of a certain pink haired someone at her new job, its not long before Miku is faced with the most difficult dilemma of her life. Still terrible at summaries and titles. Eventual Miku x Luka yuri, negitoro, T-rated for now, M-rated later.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, I'm back with a new story for Miku's birthday. I've had this idea floating around for a while now, and what better time to start a new story than on the titular character's birthday. However, aside from a second chapter in either a week or two weeks' time, I wouldn't except any updates for a while as I'd like to have multiple chapters written and ready to go before I commit to updating on a schedule. That being said, I do intend to see this story through to its end as it is already mostly planned out, unlike all of my previous stories.**

 **In that same vein, this fic will be a bit different to my other ones. Firstly, I intend to have shorter chapters, but more of them; so that hopefully means no more twelve thousand word chapters, and hopefully more consistent updates. Secondly, in pretty much all my other stories I tend to rush into the romance, sometimes within only a couple chapters. But with this one I intend to take it slower and have their relationship build up more gradually. This fic will also have a more realistic/daily life setting for the most part, which I hope doesn't end up coming across as boring. Think slice of life anime, especially for the first half of the story, but with romance mixed in too. I'll also be including the date at which the chapter takes place at the start of each chapter, for added realism and to easily know where we are timewise at the start of each new chapter.**

 **For now this fic will be T rated, and will be for quite a few chapters, but it will become M rated before the end. Also, as the title mentions, this story is centred around Miku eventually cheating on her boyfriend with Luka, so if that's not something you want to end up reading then I suggest you click away now. Also, I might as well mention it here now, assuming this story doesn't flop and I end up stopping a few chapters in, but fairly early on in the story is a scene that will contain a foot massage with some foot fetish-y elements. It's not written yet, and I'd like to get people's opinions on it before I get to that chapter. Is that something you would be okay with reading/would like to read, do you definitely not want to read something like that, should I tone it down or go quite in depth with it? If you could let me know in a review or a PM that would be much appreciated.**

 **Anyways, that's enough from me. This chapter may be a little slow/boring as it is mostly setting the story up, but still, I hope you enjoy it. Please note that I'm pretty rusty at the moment and this hasn't been beta read, so I apologise for any mistakes.**

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Monday 13th August

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"Aaaand here we are. See, I told you we'd make it on time." A blue haired man offered cockily to the tealette sitting next to him. "And with four minutes to spare too… I don't know what you were worrying about Miku." He added with a confident grin as he applied the parking brake.

Miku let out a small sigh; she always hated it when he was like this. "I just really didn't want to be late on my first day of work, and after you insisted on taking me today even though I had my trains all planned out… I was just worried we wouldn't make it on time." She explained, unbuckling her seatbelt as she spoke, taking a few moments to fix her hair that been misplaced by her boyfriend's rather reckless driving. "But thank you… for getting me here on time, and for making time to take me, I appreciate it Kaito." She decided to add, not wanting to cause any tension between them; she already had enough on her plate to deal with today. "Anyways, I need to get going or I really will be late." Miku exclaimed, leaning over and pecking her boyfriend on the lips quickly, before gathering up her things and stepping out onto the sidewalk.

A head of blue hair appeared in the passenger side window; Kaito leaning over to add one last thing. "Don't forget, I only took the morning off to take you, you'll have to get the train from now on!" He called out through the window. "Have a good day, love you babe."

"Thanks, love you too…" She replied, waving back at the blue haired man as he pulled away, making sure he was out of sight before she eventually rolled her eyes. "How could I forget? It was plan all along to take the train… you're the one who had to surprise me with a lift this morning and throw my schedule out the window in the process." She mentally berated her boyfriend, soon catching herself before she got too irate. "Well, at least he tired …"She figured, knowing that he did have good intentions in mind, it was just the way he went about delivering them. He could be kinda dumb, and somewhat difficult to deal with at times, but she still loved him despite of all that.

With that, the tealette turned and made her way towards the building that would be her new workplace for the foreseeable future, climbing the numerous shallow steps that approached it before stopping just before the entrance. "I don't think that'll get old anytime soon…" She murmured to herself as she looked up; craning her neck sharply just to be able to fit the glass and steel behemoth of a building fully within her vision, taking a few moments to stare in awe at one of Tokyo's taller buildings. "You can do it, Miku." She reassured herself, admittedly a little nervous of its intimating presence and the thought of what lie inside for her.

After a few more moments, Miku returned her gaze to the grand looking entrance, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her pointer finger, and briskly made her way forwards. It wasn't long before the gold finished doors gave way to an expansive lobby, filled with people all busily milling around; no doubt on their way to their various jobs here in the building. From what she could remember from her interview, this building had over thirty floors of offices, each one belonging to a different company for the most part, with hers, Crypton photography, being on the twenty first floor.

It took her a few moments to locate them due to the sheer mass of people crowding her vision, but Miku eventually spotted the bank of elevators near the back side of the lobby, and quickly made her way through the crowds to reach them as soon as possible. "8:57…" She whispered to herself as she checked the time on her phone. "I'm gonna be la…" The tealette had started to think to herself, before a chime signalled one of the elevator's arrivals. She politely let the occupants pour out one after another, pleasantly surprised when she saw that she had it all to herself; glad of the opportunity to make any last minute fixes to her hair or attire if needed. "Floor 21…" She whispered under her breath, her eyes darting around the panel quickly, scanning it for the correct button. "Ah… floor 21, here we go…" She murmured triumphantly, pressing the button and letting out a much needed sigh of relief.

"Hold it please!" A voice called out from the lobby, startling the just relaxed tealette, and prompting a rushed search for the correct button, only just stopping the door from closing at the last second. "Thank you so much." A tall blonde woman said with genuine gratitude, currently bent over with her hands on her thighs as she caught her breath, slightly puffed out from the short run she just did to catch the elevator in time. "I definitely would've been late if it wasn't for you, thank you…" She continued as the door slid shut behind her, before finally looking up. "Oh hey, it you… Miku right?"

Miku racked her brain as to why this woman would already know her name; feeling rather nervous now that she was essentially trapped in a small metal box alone with her. "Err… yeah… that's right." She stalled, giving herself a moment to think, before it finally came back to her. "Lily, wasn't it?" She asked tentatively, getting a pleased nod from the taller woman. "Yeah, I remember you from the interview we had a few weeks ago… I can only assume you got the job too?"

Lily nodded again. "Yup, somehow I managed to get selected." She joked, before she too took a moment to fix her appearance in the elevator's mostly mirrored wall. "There were quite a few applicants over the past few weeks from what I've heard, but I think only about five or six made it through." She revealed as she tucked an errant strand of hair back into place, before her eyes settled on the younger woman's face in the mirror. "I was certain I would see you here today though… I just knew you would get the job."

The younger woman was a little surprised by Lily's comment. "What made you think that?" She inquired with genuine curiosity.

The tall blonde chuckled softly. "Just look at you." She offered, both pairs of eyes focusing on her reflection in the mirror. "You looked, and still look so professional… your attire, those big glasses, that backpack… you look like you mean business Miku." She explained, pointing at each item as she spoke. "And your attitude was great, the way you carried yourself, how determined you looked… I just knew that a person like you would easily get this job… and its part of the reason I'm surprised I got in too."

"Thanks… I think." Lily did have a point; they did differ significantly in both their appearance and personality. Miku, with only the most essential hints of make-up, with her white blouse tucked into her black skirt neatly, buttons done up all the way to the collar, standing up straight despite her slightly oversized backpack weighing her down, was quite the contrast to the woman standing next to her. Shirt untucked from the black pants that clung to her legs tightly, the top two buttons of her shirt undone rather messily, a small designer purse that was filled to overflowing rather than a more utilitarian option, and her more spread out posture that exuded an aura of overconfidence. Still, despite them being obviously different, with Miku clearly being more of a nerd when it came to photography and Lily seemingly more of the cool freelance type, the tealette had a feeling that they would get along well, at least if this interaction was anything to go off of. "They were looking for all sorts of people; I think they probably wanted some variety amongst their new hires." Miku offered in response, getting an understanding nod from the taller woman.

"Floor twenty one, Crypton photography." The monotone, almost robotic female voice of the elevator announced their arrival before either woman could say much more. "Well… here we are, after you Miku." The blonde said enthusiastically as she gestured for her to go first.

As the younger woman stepped out into the office she raked her eyes across its layout, some parts of it still fairly clear in her memory from her interview, whilst other areas still remained a mystery to her. The central area of the office space was filled with multiple low walled cubicles, each larger than what you would typically find in other offices; perhaps to promote better communication or to increase creativity if Miku had to guess. Along the side walls were a few individual offices, each with its own nameplated door; most likely for the more senior members of the company to work in. There was of course the standard assortment of bathrooms and supply closets, as well as a few communal areas; break rooms, a kitchen, and of course the office water cooler, but what stood out to Miku was the back wall of the office.

She could only assume that the office at the back belonged to her boss. The wall was no shorter than those that held four individual offices along the sides, and yet, aside from the two smaller rooms, one occupying each corner, only a single door stood in the middle, presumably giving way to the largest office on the floor. It wasn't flush with the back wall however; instead the office started further back into the building, as just before said office was a glass fronted area that lined up with the rest of the back wall. Inside was a single, sizeable desk; presumably where the boss' secretary worked. It did however appear to be empty at the moment, despite the fact that it was dead on nine o'clock when they arrived.

"It's pretty big huh?" Lily leant in closer to the tealette in order to speak quietly, noticing that Miku was intently taking in her new surroundings. "Bigger than I remember at least."

Miku jumped slightly at the unexpected voice in her ear. "Err yeah… I was pretty nervous on the day of the interview; I didn't really have time to think about it too much. But now that you mention it… it's certainly larger than I thought it was." She replied back, looking to the taller woman beside her. "They must really be doing well if they can employ this many people."

Lily was about to reply, but before she had the chance; a tall man with long purple hair came out of the office closest to them, quickly noticing the two new faces. "Ah… I take it you two are also new hires?" He asked, before laughing to himself quietly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kamui Gakupo, one of the senior editors here at Crypton." He introduced himself cheerily, extending a hand to Lily and then Miku shortly after, the two women both introducing themselves as well. "Great, now that you're both here, I think that's everyone for today. Let me show to the where the others are waiting." He spoke softly, wearing a friendly smile as he led the way through the office. "Man… I've got no shortage of work to be getting on with then today; with the two of you that makes six new hires just for today." He joked as he strolled through the office, soon arriving at their destination. "If you could just wait here for a couple of minutes, I'm sure the manager will be out any moment now to greet you and show you around more properly."

With that, Gakupo left Miku and Lily with the others, and after a few awkward seconds had passed, Lily quickly began introducing herself to everyone, instantly establishing herself as the most confident and outgoing of the new batch of employees. Miku, being the rather reserved, almost shy person that she was, wasn't quite sure were to begin; she didn't want to barge in and introduce herself, nor did she want to hang back and wait for people to come to her necessarily, but she honestly wasn't quite sure where to begin what with there being so many new people around her.

However, her decision would have to wait, as something far more captivating caught Miku's attention. Near the back of the office space, past the group of new employees, a woman unlike anything the tealette had ever seen before emerged from the doorway to the left of the glass walled office. "W-wow…" Miku whispered under her breath as she took in the sight of the woman as she walked across the office.

Thigh length pink hair; the exact colour of the cherry blossoms that she loved so much. Impossibly long and slender legs, accessorised with what had to have been at least four, perhaps even five inch heels. A crisp white blouse that clung to her generous chest and slim midsection, along with a sophisticated black pencil skirt that highlighted the woman's assets subtly. And to top it all off, the pinkette wore a pair of glasses not so dissimilar from her own, the slightly thinner black frames adorning what was easily the most beautiful face she had ever seen. "I remember hearing they had their own photography studio here, but I hadn't expected that there would be models walking around." She thought to herself, simply unable to tear her gaze from the exquisite woman; her eyes tracking her as she walked across the open space in front of her. "She… she's gorgeous…" Miku said to herself, her heart beating hard from just the sight of her.

"Earth to Miku… are you in there?" The blonde called out playfully as she stepped into her field of vision, effectively blocking her view of the alluring pinkette, not to mention snapping her out of the trance she had seemingly put her in. "Not a great idea to be spacing out like that on your first day… you really should say hello to everyone or you'll make a bad first impression." Lily advised jokingly, giving the tealette a playful wink.

Lily was right though; first impressions certainly did matter, and Miku really didn't feel like reliving her school days as the nerdy outcast all over again. "Ahh… sorry everyone… my mind went blank there for a second." She lied nervously, before taking one last glance back to where she last saw the pink haired woman. Miku was oddly disappointed that she was no longer anywhere to be seen, although she figured that it was probably for the best that the distraction was now gone for good. "I'm Hatsune Miku, pleased to meet all of you." She offered politely, taking a few moments to greet each of the four people one at a time, exchanging names and handshakes with all of them in a reasonably confident manner despite her innate shyness.

With everybody acquainted with one another, the six people soon naturally shifted back in to three groups of two, leaving Miku to believe that the others entered the building in pairs just like Lily and herself had. She was honestly glad. Miku wasn't the greatest when it came to new people; she could manage talking one on one without too much difficulty, but in groups she always found herself too shy to speak, which would inevitably lead to her being alienated from any new group by her awkward silences and people even forgetting she was there, at least that's how things had gone when she was in high school.

Still, even now at twenty one years of age, after having the flow of conversation broken with Lily, the tealette was struggling to find something to start a conversation with, dearly hoping that the taller woman would do the hard work for her and get the ball rolling. However, before either of them could say much, the sound of heels clacking against the hard floor returned to Miku's ears, perhaps signalling the return of the pinkette. "Is it her again…?" The tealette mumbled to herself, turning towards the source of the noise, only to discover that the pink haired woman was walking right towards them.

Miku tried to keep a cool exterior, but on the inside she was falling apart. Her heart was hammering away in her chest from nervousness, her breath was caught in her dry throat at the sight of the rapidly approaching pinkette. "Just stay calm Miku… just smile when she walks past, and everything will be fine."

However, as she came within a few feet of the group, it quickly became clear that the pinkette had no intention of walking by; instead she stopped right in front of them all, coughing softly to get everyone's attention. "There's no way… she couldn't be our…" Miku began to think to herself, but her question was answered before she even had time to finish thinking it.

"Good morning everyone, thank you all for waiting. I apologise for the delay; I had a few important things that I needed to take care of first, but now they're out of the way, please let me introduce myself." The pinkette explained once she had everyone's attention. "My name is Megurine Luka, and I am the eastern Honshu regional manager of Crypton photography." She announced with a hint of pride in her voice. "That also means that I am the most senior member of staff here in Tokyo, which for all of you means that I am your new manager… pleased to meet you all."

Miku could hardly believe it. "It can't be… she's so young… and so beautiful, there's no way she could be my new boss." The tealette thought to herself. "Regional manager? She can't be a day over thirty at best… there's no way she could be the head of company like this already." She continued, before looking around to see if anyone shared her shocked facial expression; with only Lily showing any sign of a reaction.

Looking specifically towards the blonde and teal pair, Luka began to speak once again. "Now some of you who were interviewed more recently will probably recognise me… I hope you do, as I was the one doing the interviews." Luka joked, earning a small chorus of laughs from the group in front of her. "But for those who were interviewed last month before our HR lady left, on the one day I happened to be off from work of course, I think it's worth everyone reintroducing themselves to me, just so we're all on even ground." She suggested, before moving to the end of the line of people, greeting each new staff member more personally, one at a time.

Miku looked down the line, trying to prepare herself for her turn… for the moment she would finally have to talk to this incredible woman one on one. "A little handshake, and a few words back and forth…" She mentally said to herself as she observed the pattern forming before her, watching and waiting as Luka drew ever closer to the other end of the line; right where she happened to be standing. "You can do this Miku, no big deal."

The pinkette let go of Lily's hand, bowing at her slightly before moving down the line one last time "I don't think we've met either… no… I'd definitely remember you if we had." Luka began softly, her silky voice gaining Miku's attention with ease. "What's your name?"

The tealette looked up at Luka's words, wanting to try to find the meaning in what she had just said, but the moment her eyes met the stunning blues of the woman standing in front of her, any ability to think straight left Miku completely. "I… err… umm…" The younger woman fumbled nervously, tearing her eyes away from Luka's and locking them squarely with the floor, the redness in her cheeks spreading at an alarming rate.

Without any hesitation, the pinkette placed a gentle hand on her new employee's shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "Hey, there's no need to be nervous." She practically whispered, keeping their exchange just between them, taking the initiative to move a little closer to the tealette to give them a bit more privacy. "Look at me, sweetheart." Luka instructed caringly, successfully bringing the younger woman's gaze off of the floor and back to her. "What's your name?" Luka asked again, her tone incredibly gentle.

Miku looked up into her eyes once more, although this time, instead of feeling slightly intimated and overwhelmingly nervous, the younger woman found herself feeling strangely at ease, the gentle stare and sweet smile from the pinkette calming her thumping heart considerably. "Sorry… I don't know what came over me." She explained, getting a small nod from Luka in return, one of equal parts understanding, and as a signal for her to continue. "I'm M-Miku… Hatsune Miku." She managed to say with minimal stuttering. "Pleased to meet you Megurine-san."

Luka's smile continued to grow at the tealette's cute shyness, her hand finding the petite one of the woman in front of her. "Pleased to meet you too Hatsune-san, I look forward to working with you." Luka said with professionalism and compassion, before removing her hand from Miku's shoulder and bringing it down to their handshake, encapsulating the tealette's smaller hand in both of her own. "I've got a great feeling about you." She whispered with a smile, staring into the shorter woman's eyes as she spoke.

Miku couldn't look away; too enraptured in the pinkette's almost loving gaze. Nor could she stop thinking about how soft and warm the older woman's hands were, the pleasant sensation surrounding her own hand as they continued to exchange in an overly long handshake. "I… I hope I can live up to your expectations…" She whispered in response, effortlessly earning a bright smile and an accepting nod from her pink haired boss.

Luka held on for a few more seconds, before she eventually released both Miku's hand and her gaze, quickly returning her attention to the group. "Sorry about that…" She addressed the group with a goofy smile, scratching the back of her head slightly nervously as she gave the tealette a knowing look. "It's probably best that I make it known to you all now, that being that I am quite the touchy-feely person. So if anyone here is particularly uncomfortably with that, I'd ask that you let me know now so that I can be a bit more reserved with you in the future." Luka requested, once again looking to the young woman that had prompted her to mention this in the first place.

Normally Miku would have been the first one to say something here; as all throughout school and even into her adult life, the tealette disliked having her personal space invaded, especially if that meant being touched by someone she wasn't already pretty familiar with. And yet, it just occurred to the teal haired young woman that she had just had a total stranger's hand resting on her shoulder, and shared a rather intimate handshake with said stranger, and she hadn't minded in the slightest. In fact, Miku had been kind of disappointed when Luka finally moved away from her; as she had been oddly enjoying the pleasant contact with her new boss more than she cared to admit.

And strangely enough, the tealette felt oddly saddened at the fact that the intimate moment she had just shared with Luka hadn't been anything special just for her; that the pinkette probably did stuff like this with other employees and others in general as it was simply in her nature to be like that. Though, she soon caught herself trying to rationalise that feeling, quickly shaking her head at herself. "You shouldn't be thinking like that Miku… she's your boss… of course it was her just being nice." She berated herself, before another, perhaps more important point popped into her head. "And beside, you have a boyfriend you idiot."

Miku looked up, only now just realising that the pink haired woman had specifically been waiting on her answer; her boss looking at her expectantly. She shook her head and flashed Luka a timid smile, which seemed to convey the message, as Luka soon proceeded to continue from where she left off. "Great, that's good to know." Luka chirped happily, before pointing at the glass fronted room Miku had identified earlier. "That over there is my office, not the desk there; that would be for my secretary if I had one, but in the room behind it, and it's where you can find me a lot of the time." She explained, turning back to the group. "And while I may be the manager, I am also currently operating as our HR, as like I mentioned before, the lady that worked in that position previously has only recently just left; leaving me to step in whilst we look for a suitable replacement." The pinkette continued, stopping briefly to catch her breath. "It looks like I'll be in that position for the foreseeable future, so if you have any matters regrading HR, you'll have to come to me I'm afraid." She said with a little chuckle, taking a short moment to clear her throat before speaking again.

"Other than that, me and a few of the other senior members of staff will be training you up over the coming days and weeks, and at the end of every week on Friday afternoons I personally like to have a one on one meeting with newer staff members." She went on, sensing a little nervousness in the small crowd. "It's nothing too serious, only about ten minutes per person. It's more just to monitor and review your progress, and to make sure everything's going okay for you at work. And of course you can come and see me at any time in the week if you have any problems or questions." Luka finished, taking a brief moment to pause, before smiling brightly at her new employees. "Now I know that was probably a lot to take in… don't worry, I'll go over everything again as we go. But for now, let me show around the office, introduce you to our current members of staff and show you where you will all be working."

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Teal painted fingers moved the mouse currently in their grip along the desk, moving yet another completed file to its correct location on screen. "Done!" Miku whispered to herself triumphantly, before taking a second to look at the large clock on the wall beyond her computer screen. "4:55… it can't already be that late…" The tealette thought to herself in shock, surprised at how fast the time had gone on her first day.

And what a first day it had been. So many new people; so many names Miku was sure she would forget a few times before they all stuck. There was just so much new information to take in all at once; be it the layout of the building, the details and procedures of the multiple tasks she would be performing on a daily basis, even just remembering where the bathrooms were… it was pretty overwhelming to say the least. But, whilst the work was somewhat difficult, it suited Miku quite well, and even though she had only a single day's experience under her belt, she had already become rather proficient at her work already, and as such, the tealette could definitely see herself sticking this job out for the foreseeable future.

That, and the fact that her boss was a young, impossibly attractive, and incredibly nice pink haired woman. After their introduction, tour of the building, and small meet and greet session, Luka had quickly gotten to work training the new team for the majority of the day. Whilst others had helped, including a short haired brunette named Meiko, and the purple haired man from this morning, amongst a couple others, the pinkette had been with them the whole time. And instead of the short tempered or disinterested trainers you might encounter in another job, Luka was nothing short of compassionate, incredibly sweet and caring, especially tolerant of mistakes, and one hundred percent invested in her new employees, all of which quickly created a very positive image of the pinkette in Miku's head.

Being as caught up in her thoughts as she was, the tealette only just noticed that her boss had left the photography studio by the time she had already closed the door and was walking towards her. And given that her cubicle was at the very front left of the office, with Luka's office almost directly in front of it, and the studio being the next room along the back wall from it; there was very little distance her boss needed to cover to reach her cubicle, which gave Miku very little time to pretend she was actually doing some work, rather than thinking about her boss.

Needless to say, Luka saw the younger woman quickly sit up in her chair, throw her hands forward to the keyboard and mouse in front of her, and aimlessly start clicking and typing at anything she could find. That, combined with her teal haired employee's rapidly spreading blush made for an incredibly cute picture to the pinkette.

"Hey, there's no need to panic, Hatsune-san." She offered gently as she came into the cubicle and crouched down beside the younger woman. "It's practically five o'clock now, and you've worked so hard today already, its fine if you need a little break now and then." She explained quietly; glad to get a short, quick nod from Miku in response. "So… how did you find today? I hope it wasn't too much to handle all in one day?"

Miku let her hands come to rest down in her lap, letting out the breath she only just realised she had been holding in. "Thank you…" She offered in response to the pinkette's first comment, glad that her boss had noticed the level of effort she had put in today. "Honestly, it was a little overwhelming, but still manageable." She replied, trying… and failing a few times at holding eye contact with the older woman; Luka's proximity to her making her feel ever so slightly nervous. "And as far as the actual work goes, it's certainly a little tough, but it's fair at the same time… just the right balance I think."

Luka flashed a warm smile at the tealette. "I'm glad to hear it; I wouldn't want to completely confuse my new employees on day one." She joked, getting a small giggle from the shorter woman in response. "That kinda brings me around to what I came over here to ask you about." Luka went on, the tealette turning in her seat slightly, as if to further show she was giving the older woman her full attention. "On new employee's first days we get your ID cards sorted out. We take a picture in the studio and get them made up in house." Luka started, her face imperceptibly saddening before she spoke again. "But with so many new people all at once, we just didn't have enough time to get yours done. So I wanted to ask, and please don't feel like you have to, but would it be possible for you to come in five, maybe ten minutes earlier tomorrow morning?" She asked respectfully, her tone sounding like she was asking for something much more serious. "I'll be in then, and we can get your ID card sorted out before work even starts tomorrow… but only if that works for you?"

Miku couldn't help but think how lucky she had been when it came to her boss; there were so many different possibilities of what a bad boss could be, and here she was with what could only be described as the best one imaginable; so respectful and polite towards someone of such comparatively little experience. "That's perfectly fine with me Megurine-san." She replied cheerfully. "I don't mind at all, in fact I'd be happy to do that for you." She decided to add, wanting to make a good early impression on the pink haired woman.

Luka certainly noticed the comment, her smile growing wider as she gently bowed to the younger woman after standing back up. "Thank you Hatsune-san, that really does make things easier." She explained, her eyes following the tealette as she also rose from her seat.

Miku could feel the older woman's stare on her, following her every move intently. "Umm…" She shyly started, looking up at the pinkette and confirming that Luka was indeed fixated on her; her stare almost predatory. "Megurine-san…?" She asked tentatively.

Luka shook her head, the faintest of blushes forming on her cheeks. "Sorry sweetheart, it's just… I love your hair, it's so long and it's such a great colour." She quickly replied, her words seemingly genuine despite looking like a kid who had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "I imagine it must take you hours to dye it though."

The tealette's heart fluttered momentarily at Luka's term of endearment for her, just as it had done when she had called her sweetheart before. "Th-thanks… although this is my natural colour, I wouldn't have the patience to dye this much hair."

The older woman seemed genuinely surprised, her lips forming into a shocked o shape. "Is it really?" She asked questioningly, getting a somewhat proud nod from the teal haired young woman. "Apart from Kamui-san, I've never met anyone before with hair a non-standard colour that wasn't dyed, I always thought me and my family were quite rare."

It took Miku a moment, but she soon got the meaning of what her boss had just said. "Wait… so you're a natural pinkette?" She asked, almost as surprised as Luka had been with her.

Luka nodded, her lips curving back into a smile. "That's right, pink and proud as my mother always used to say." She jokingly replied, bringing a smile to her employee's lips. "I've had this colour hair all my life, and not once have I ever thought about changing it… it's one of my best features I feel."

Miku's heart beat hard for a second; nervous about what she thinking of saying, wondering if it was okay to compliment her boss. "I… err… it really is… y-your hair… it's really beautiful Megurine-san." She nervously stuttered her way through her sentence, her embarrassment threatening to force her gaze downwards once again, but not before Luka gave her response.

"Thank you so much Hatsune-san, I'm glad you like it." She replied sweetly, her eyes brimming with happiness as she found the teal orbs of the younger woman. "It's not a patch on yours though; I've never seen anyone with such stunning hair. It really compliments your eyes, and with the way your bangs frame your face…" Luka paused, leaning in ever so slightly. "It makes you look simply adorable sweetheart."

Miku blushed at the older woman's remark, not quite believing what her brain was telling her. "Is… is she flirting with me?" She asked herself internally, unable to come up with any other possible outcome. Sure, Luka could just be being really, really friendly, but there was something else… something Miku couldn't quite put her finger on that led her to her conclusion. "Is it her eyes?" She asked herself, staring back into the deep blue pools, losing herself in their infinite depth and stunning beauty. "The way she looks at me… so longingly…?"

Before Miku could quite find the answer she was searching for, the pinkette looked away, smiling to herself for a brief moment before turning back to the tealette. "Anyway… good work today Hatsune-san, I'll see you bright and early at around ten to nine, okay?"

Miku felt like she had been snapped out of a trance; almost like a spell had been lifted as Luka had looked away. "Err… yeah, ten to nine." She parroted back absentmindedly, still trying to make sense of their strange exchange. "See you then."

With that, the pinkette swiftly returned to her office, leaving a still rather confused and intrigued Miku standing at her desk. "What was that all about?" She whispered to herself, remembering the way Luka had looked at her; specifically the look on her face when she had said she looked adorable, still trying to make sense of it all.

Miku soon deduced that it was probably nothing, most likely her just reading too deep into it as she had a tendency to do. Luka had said herself that she was a touchy feely person, it would make sense that she was also quite generous with her compliments to everyone, and that their encounter hadn't been anything out of the ordinary for the pinkette. She gathered up her belongings, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and made her way to the elevator, saying goodbye to the few remaining staff members still at their desks. But still, as she stepped into the elevator and selected the ground floor, thoughts of her pink haired boss were certainly lingering in the back of her mind.

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"I'm home!" Miku called out into the house as she stepped through the front door, dropping her bag off of her shoulders and onto the floor of the entryway; its weight seemingly quite a bit heavier than when she set off from work, or at least that's how it felt to the tired tealette. "Kaito, are you in?" She tried again, this time getting a response from her blue haired boyfriend, his voice coming from the living room.

She purposefully took her time to take off her shoes, waiting for the blue haired man to come and greet her after her first day of work. But, even after a solid thirty seconds had passed, his tall figure had not yet appeared in the doorway; the warm greeting she had expected from him seemingly non-existent. "Glad to see I was missed." She mumbled to herself sarcastically, before putting her shoes away neatly and making her way to the living room, greatly anticipating a well-deserved sit down after having to stand for the duration of her train journey.

However, as the tealette turned the corner and entered the room, she soon spotted Kaito laying on their two seater sofa, fully stretched out as he watched the game of baseball playing on the TV. "Hey..." She offered quietly, taking a precarious seat on the arm of the chair once she realised that her boyfriend had no intention of moving.

"Hey. There she is…" Kaito replied back enthusiastically, albeit with his attention still divided between the game and his girlfriend. "It's the worker, back from her first day." He continued, taking a few seconds to fully watch how the last play had gone, before finally turning his head towards the tealette. "How'd it go today? Did you have fun?" He asked with a genuine smile, seemingly proud of his girlfriend.

Miku smiled back, even if he hadn't gotten up, or moved to make room for her; at least he seemed to be interested. "I did actually. It was mostly training and orientation, but I did get to do some editing which was interesting." She replied back, the blue haired man nodding along as she spoke. "I met a lot of new people, and they all seem really nice and talented." She continued, her mind briefly switching to thoughts of Luka for a moment, before she swiftly dismissed them, not exactly wanting to mention her just yet. "And the day just flew by, it was lunch before I knew it, and then…" Miku started, but was soon interrupted by her boyfriend talking over her.

"Speaking of food, what's for dinner babe?" He asked nonchalantly, before realising a full five seconds after the fact that he had just cut of the tealette, and that she didn't exactly seem happy about that. "Sorry for cutting you off, it's just… time is getting on, and I'm not getting any less hungry." He joked, his one woman crowd not finding it particularly funny however.

Miku was a bit taken aback when he had interrupted her like that. It's not like she wasn't already used to it; it was one of the many bad habits Kaito had, but she at least thought he would show a decent level of interest towards her new job, especially on her first day too. It certainty left her felling a tad annoyed, that and the fact that Kaito was as expectant of his dinner as he always was. "Have you at least made a start on anything like I asked?

The blue haired man shook his head, shrugging his shoulders at Miku. "I thought about it, but I think I'll have to pass on that." He replied, earning himself an unbelieving look from his girlfriend. "I don't do the cooking… I never have done. I don't see why that should be any different now. I reckon I'd just mess things up and slow you down more."

Miku let out a frustrated sigh; he really was incredible sometimes, and not in a good way. "Because we're both working now; I'm not at home all day ready to have your dinner made for when you get home anymore." She explained, her tone clearly a little annoyed. "And as you only work ten minutes away and get home a good deal earlier, don't you think it makes sense for you to at least do something." She continued, getting a confused look from the blue haired man, like he had no idea what she was talking about. "You could prep the veggies, or get all the ingredients out and ready to go… even just setting the table would save me a few minutes."

Kaito looked as if he was giving it some serious consideration for a moment, before shrugging once again and waving off the idea of helping. "Nah, I really can't see myself doing any of that reliably." He replied, laughing to himself before turning back to the TV. "And besides, I already do all the washing up, I feel like that's fair, especially after working all day."

Miku opened her mouth to speak, wanting to reiterate that she too was now working, but she soon let it fall shut, as she already knew that her words would be falling on deaf ears. Miku was definitely unhappy with her boyfriend's behaviour and attitude, but what could she do about it? She knew first hand just how stubborn and lazy Kaito could be, but after months and months of letting things slide in his favour; letting him win arguments she didn't want to fight, the roles that they had gradually slipped into had become more and more concrete with time. She felt that it was too late to change things at this point; after being on the losing end in their relationship for a year, it would only cause more fuss and more arguments if she were to suddenly try and change things in her favour.

And, when she looked at bigger picture, still having to cook dinner despite having worked all day wasn't exactly the end of the world; just another thing she would have to let slide… after all, she had let much bigger things go before just to keep the peace, why would this time be any different? She would have appreciated the rest after such a long day, but Miku quickly decided that it would just have to wait until after dinner. "I guess…" She murmured, sounding a little defeated, retreating to the kitchen and leaving Kaito with the TV he seemed to be more interested in; all the while wishing that he wasn't so lazy, even if only now and then.

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Deft, teal painted fingers effortlessly held Miku's chopsticks as she swirled them around the bowl of soup before her; the motion uncovering a hidden piece of meat for them to skilfully snatch up, only a few noodles and a small amount of liquid now remaining in her bowl. "So yeah, for now it is a lot of administrative work, emails and the like..." Miku started, pausing for a moment as she sipped at the still surprisingly hot broth. "But as time goes on and they find out what we're all good at individually, they mentioned that we may end up as full time editors, or we might even become photographers, be it for in-house shoots, or sent out on jobs for our clients." She went on, happy to see that now they were around the dining table, and he presumably had a lot less distractions, that Kaito seemed genuinely interested in her account of her first day. "I still can't believe there were six of us though. I know they're doing well as a company and growing their staff, but six at one time seems excessive."

The blue haired man nodded along, listening to his girlfriend's words as he too slurped down the flavourful liquid from his own bowl. "You know why that is though, right?" He asked with a mouth still half full, spilling a little from his lips in the process of talking. "When a company gets a lot of new people at once, most of the time it's so they can start with a larger batch and then quickly weed out the weaker ones, leaving them with only two or three in your case that are actually decent." He explained proudly, almost as if he were a genius for knowing something reasonably apparent. "In these first few days and weeks they'll really be looking to sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak, so you better try your best if you don't want to end up as the chaff."

The tealette rolled her eyes at his little speech, but particularly at his last comment. "I had figured that was the case already." She replied, before finishing what little food she had left; greatly appreciating the fruits of her labour in the kitchen. "And you don't have to tell me twice, I'll be giving this my maximum effort and then some. You of all people should know that I've always wanted a job in photography, and now that I finally have one, I'm not going to let it just slip through my fingers." She offered back with an uncharacteristic determination, earning a praising thumbs up from her boyfriend, the man not currently being able to reply with words courtesy of the quantity of noodles and volume of broth he had somehow managed to fit into his mouth all at once.

With that, Miku set her chopsticks down neatly and sluggishly made her way to the living room, filled with the sole intention of simply relaxing. "Finally…" She sighed as she unceremoniously plopped down onto the sofa; its overwhelming softness and much needed lower back support greatly appreciated by the tealette. "Let's see what's on." She murmured to herself as she stretched out and retrieved the remote from the low table in front of her.

It wasn't long before Kato followed in his girlfriend's footsteps, entering the living room after he had finished his meal much as the tealette had. "Watcha watching?" He asked lazily as he began to lower himself into his seat, but was stopped in his tracks when Miku swiftly extended her legs to take up the whole length of the sofa, mimicking the pose she had found him in before dinner. "Hey, what gives?"

"Don't you remember?" She asked with a coy grin, getting a confused look from the blue haired man in response. "And besides, I already do all the washing up." She copied his earlier statement, even going so far as to imitate his tone of voice. "Your turn to fulfil your end of the deal. I cooked it and now you have to clean it." She said, clearly amused at how the situation had played out in her favour. He gave her a look as if to say he would do it later, but the tealette was having none of it. "There's no point putting it off, it's only gonna get more dried up and harder to clean the longer you wait." She explained, her point appearing to be enough to convince him to head for the kitchen. "Have fun… it shouldn't take you too long." She couldn't help but add with a giggle, knowing just how much washing up she had made by choosing to make something overly complicated and with a lot of ingredients for dinner, all whilst being one of her personal favourites. Even if they had their difficulties and their moments, there were still times like this where Miku definitely felt she had won, even if it was just for just an evening.

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 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'd love to know what you thought of it, and of what you think of the story idea as a whole.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I honestly wasn't expecting that many reviews at all, but I'm glad that you all enjoyed the first chapter. And special thanks to those who gave their opinion on the foot fetish scene; I was pretty worried asking about such things, but after hearing back from you I think I'll be writing it as I had originally planned.**

 **I'll be updating this story every other Friday, as I feel a once per week schedule is more likely to be missed and more prone to burnout and eventual abandonment of the story. That being said, between this chapter and chapter 3 there will most likely be a four week gap, as like I mentioned in chapter 1, I want to be a few chapters ahead of my upload schedule. If I get a lot done in two weeks' time then I'll post the next chapter then, but in all likelihood, chapter 3 won't be out until the 12** **th** **of October.**

 **Also, just a little disclaimer, I have never worked in an office before, nor do I know much about photography, so I apologize if I get any of the finer details wrong. I'm sort of just going off of what I think both things are like, so feel free to point out if and when something doesn't sound right to you.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always your reviews are greatly appreciated.**

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Tuesday 14th August 2018

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"Floor twenty one, Crypton photography." The monotone voice accompanied the polished metal doors of the elevator sliding open, announcing both its own, and a certain tealette's arrival to the floor. She stepped out into the office tentatively; the sight of it completely devoid of any people, with every cubicle currently empty unnerving Miku somewhat. Partly as it was honestly a little scary knowing that she was alone, but mostly because it almost felt like she wasn't meant to be here this early; almost like she wasn't authorised despite her boss asking her yesterday to be here. "8:42…" She mumbled to herself after glancing at the clock; she was a little earlier than necessary, but she didn't want to run the risk of being late for her early appointment with Luka, instead opting to give herself even more time and be extra early rather than there be any chance of showing up later than 8:50.

She leisurely made her way through the near silent office, the only sounds being the quiet hum of the air conditioning units up above, and of her own footsteps against the floor below. Given her slow, almost cautious pace, and the decent size of the main office space, it took the tealette the best part of a minute before she reached her cubicle, gently setting her backpack down on the desk so as to not disturb the peace and quiet. "Well…" Miku said to herself lowly, checking her surroundings once more and confirming that she was indeed all by herself. "Looks like I've got some time to kill before she shows up."

The tealette pulled out her chair, but just as she was about to lower herself into it, the door to Luka's office swung open, revealing none other than the pinkette herself. It didn't look like Luka had seen her though, as she was still going about her business in the glass fronted office. But, seeing as the glass door was pinned open, Miku mustered up the courage to call out to her boss after a few seconds of indecision. "G-good morning Megurine-san!"

Luka instantly looked up, her eyes rapidly identifying the source of the noise, smiling as soon as she saw the distinctive shade of teal of her new employee. Without any hesitation, the pinkette dropped the now no longer important paperwork she had been carrying onto the vacant secretary's desk, and hastily made her way over to Miku's cubicle, her quick stride seemingly filled with great purpose. "Good morning to you too Hatsune-san." She offered back cheerily once she reached the tealette. "Sorry if I kept you waiting, I wasn't expecting you to be quite this early."

Miku couldn't help but blush softly, partly at her boss' greeting and comment, but also just because she was alone with the pink haired woman again. "I… I didn't want to be late, and the trains, they… they just worked out this way." She explained hurriedly. "It's not a problem is it… me being this early?"

Luka smiled and shook her head. "No, not at all. In fact I'm glad you're early; it shows that you're invested and committed, and it gives us a little bit more time to get everything sorted out." She replied back encouragingly, before pointing out the studio to the younger woman. "Everything is already pretty much set up, so if you're ready then we can get started?" She asked, getting a confirming nod from the tealette. "Great, then follow me to the studio and we can get that picture taken, hmm?"

Miku nodded enthusiastically, unable to stop herself from smiling back at the pinkette; Luka's own smile being too contagious to resist reciprocating. As they began the short walk over to the studio, with Miku following the older woman as instructed, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous because of the situation. Part of that feeling came from her worrying about her appearance; she was having her photo taken after all, and she at least wanted to look presentable. It had been the reason why she spent a little extra time this morning getting ready, particularly focusing on her hair, as after Luka had brought it up yesterday, Miku had felt the need to make it look as good as possible.

But her nerves mostly stemmed from the fact that she was about to spend the next ten minutes alone with just her boss. She knew she had nothing to worry about, Luka was incredibly pleasant to be around, it almost felt as though she wasn't her boss at all; so much so that Miku could even see them becoming friends just on a count of how nice Luka was, or at least she imagined they could. But it was just that point that the tealette was nervous about. In spite of the fact that Luka was so pleasant, Miku had only worked here a day, and so didn't know for sure where the older woman's limits might lie. She didn't want to get too suckered in by Luka's playful attitude, only to misread the situation and screw everything up by making a joke at the wrong time or mess about when Luka wanted her to act more seriously; she was still her boss after all . "Just don't say anything stupid, be respectful and professional and everything should be fine." Miku mentally prepared herself; just in time too as they had quickly arrived at the studio, her legs taking her in the open door after the pinkette without her even having to consciously think about it.

She took a moment to take in her new surroundings, what with it being the first time she had set foot in the studio. It was fairly small, but it extended deeper into the building than what she had imagined, so the usable floor space was actually rather large, albeit quite long and thin. The long wall to her right was completely white - presumably a neutral background for photoshoots - with a pair of large lights at each end, pointing inwards to illuminate the subject. Across the room was a reasonably expensive looking camera mounted on a professional tripod, aimed squarely at the centre of the white wall. Lastly, in front of the shorter wall at the back of the room was a small editing workstation; a slim desk with a computer, a monitor, and a few other pieces of related hardware, all ready to process the incoming images from the camera, with a long black wire providing the connection between the computer and the camera.

Luka let the tealette look around for a few moments, finding no reason to rush the younger woman, especially as they had quite a bit more time than they really needed. "It's not the most amazing studio, but we can get a surprising amount of work done in here when we need to." She said to the tealette, capturing her attention.

"I wouldn't say that Megurine-san, what you've got here is pretty impressive." The younger woman praised, her tone completely genuine. "I'd love to have a computer like that at home, and that camera… I'd kill for a camera like that." She added jokingly, her heart jumping slightly at hearing her pink haired boss laugh softly at her comment.

"Well I'll be sure to let the authorities know it was you if I ever find a dead photographer without their camera." Luka joked in return, laughing along with the now giggling tealette. "But seriously, I'm glad you like it. We're pretty sure that having our own studio has really helped us stand out above the competition, even if it isn't as fully featured as a typical standalone studio." Luka continued, glad to see that a few jokes and some pleasant conversation had seemingly relaxed the tealette somewhat; the nervous tenseness Miku had just a couple minutes ago already mostly faded away at this point.

With that, Luka decided that it was about time to get started on the task at hand. "When you're ready, if you could just stand right there in the middle for me, that would be great." The pinkette instructed, pointing to the center of the white wall as she spoke.

Miku didn't waste any time, following her boss' orders and quickly making her way over to the point that Luka had specified, watching as said woman went behind the camera that she was now standing in front of. "Like this, is here okay?" She asked dutifully, wanting to be as efficient and helpful to her boss as possible; the impression she was making on Luka holding great importance to the tealette.

Luka looked through the camera, unable to stop her lips from curving into a smile at the picture of her teal haired employee standing there, finding the look on her face; a mixture of determination and nervousness, to be incredibly cute. "Almost, can you move over just a little bit? Maybe just an inch to your right and you'll be perfectly centred." She called out from behind the camera.

Miku did as she was asked, shuffling over a short distance. "How about now Megurine-san?" She asked professionally, her tone rather enthusiastic.

The pinkette took a second to check the alignment, before bringing her head up from the camera to look at her subject directly. "That's perfect; you're right where I need you." She replied, before moving in front of the camera, heading for the tealette. "But…" She started as she walked over, not continuing her sentence until she was right in front of the shorter woman. "When it's just the two of us… would you mind if we were more casual with each other?"

With Luka being only a foot away at most, their height difference felt much more noticeable to the tealette. At a distance it wasn't really a problem, but up close it felt like Luka towered over her; their natural height difference, plus a different, but equally tall pair of heels put the pinkette almost a head taller than Miku; a difference so great that she had to crane her neck slightly just to be able to meet her eyes. "C-casual… what d-do you mean by that Megurine-san?" She stuttered a little as she spoke, the pink haired beauty being quite the distraction up close.

"That…" Luka responded swiftly. "Megurine-san… you don't have to be so formal in a situation like this." She continued, flashing the younger woman a soft smile. "When it's just us two, I'm fine for you to call me Luka." The pinkette went on, making sure to keep her tone as calm and friendly as possible; not wanting Miku to think she was telling her off or anything. "But only if that's okay with you… I just thought it would make things easier and friendlier between us."

Miku was a little surprised by the pinkette's suggestion, but certainly wasn't against it, even if the thought of calling her boss by her first name so soon felt a little inappropriate to the tealette for some strange reason. "I can do that; it's no problem at all… Luka." She said with a little pause, getting oddly embarrassed at how smoothly the pinkette's name rolled off her tongue. "B-but only if you call me Miku too… deal?" She asked a little timidly, struggling to hold the pinkette's gaze for more than a second or two at a time.

Luka loved the way Miku's head tilted to the side with her question, finding it to be incredibly cute paired with her current, unsure of herself facial expression. "Deal, Miku it is!" She answered with a reassuring smile, glad to see Miku soon sport a grin of her own at her positive response.

With that, Luka turned on the spot and made her way over to the computer rather than the camera; presumably to double check that everything was set up properly. At least that's what Miku guessed she was doing. "Umm… Luka-san…?" Miku called out questioningly - a pressing issue on her mind that she needed to ask about - but was interrupted by the pink haired woman before she could finish; Luka chuckling softly at what she had said.

"Please, just Luka is fine, Miku." The pinkette reiterated, earning a small blush from the younger woman. "Sorry… you were going to ask me something?" She formed her sentence into a question just to be sure, before spinning the monitor around 180 so that the front of the screen was now visible to the tealette.

Miku was a little surprised to see that the monitor was displaying the camera's output in real time; although also sort of glad at the opportunity to check her appearance one more time. "Umm… yeah, I just wanted to check if I can keep my glasses on." She asked more than a little nervously. For Miku, her glasses were her lifeline. So much so in fact that despite being the most passive and peaceful person she knew, if anyone were to try to damage or take her glasses, she was pretty sure that even she would end up getting physically aggressive if it meant protecting her precious sight enabling spectacles. "It's just… I'm really short sighted, and I can only see a few inches in front of me without them…" Miku began to explain, her nervousness and embarrassment growing rapidly as she approached the crux of her point. "And without them I… I can't focus properly… my eyes… they…"

"It's okay, Miku." The pinkette offered softly, stopping the younger woman before she could continue any further; the mention of her eyes clearly causing the tealette a great deal of embarrassment. "You can keep them on; it's not a problem at all." She said sweetly, looking to Miku with an understanding expression as she walked by her. Luka knew what she had been trying to get at; that being the fact that without her glasses, Miku's eyes most likely had a tendency to cross and wander; a look that she clearly wanted to avoid whenever possible, but even more so whilst having her picture taken. "I get that a little too, Miku. I'm short sighted as well, although not massively, but still enough that I need to wear glasses on a day to day basis." She offered sympathetically; glad to see that her words had put the shorter woman at ease.

Miku was relieved that her boss was so understanding, and that she could indeed keep her glasses on, but she did still have some queries about the requirements of the ID photo. "Thank you. I also wanted to ask if this is like a passport photo." She started, earning the pinkette's attention. "Do I have to do anything in particular with my hair… or am I allowed to smile for instance?"

Luka couldn't help but titter softly at the shorter woman's concerns; finding her inquisitive and questioning attitude to be quite endearing. "It's not really like a passport photo; as long as we can make out who you are from the photo then it should be okay." Luka began, moving behind the camera as she spoke. "Your hair is fine how it is now; I can see your face clearly, and I think having some teal in the shot will only help further identify you." She pointed out, bringing her hands to the camera, now seemingly ready to photograph her subject. "And as for a smile, I would actually encourage you to try for one."

Miku's head naturally tilted to the side; a trademark of hers whenever she was a little confused. "Really… why's that Luka?" She asked with genuine curiosity; wondering if it was a requirement for the picture.

A pink head of hair appeared from above the camera, Luka sporting a mischievous… almost seductive grin of her own. "Because sweetie… you have a beautiful smile, and you really should wear it more often." She answered lowly, her voice sounding even silkier than usual.

Miku didn't have the first idea on how to react, her lips opening and closing repeatedly as she desperately tried to form words, a deep red blush rapidly consuming her entire face. "Y-you… wha…" She tried, and failed to speak coherently; Luka's seductively uttered sentence having completely caught her off guard.

Luka beamed at the sight in front her; the tealette's reaction being far better than she had imagined. "Perfect…" She said loudly enough for Miku to hear as she pressed the button on the camera; the device capturing the image of the blushing, flabbergasted teal haired young woman in an instant.

The sound of the camera's shutter reached the tealette's ears, signalling to Miku that she had just been photographed in her current state, but it wasn't until a few moments later when the photograph was displayed on the monitor in all its high resolution glory that Miku properly started to panic. That, coupled with the fact that she was still stunned from Luka's earlier compliment, left the tealette completely unable to think straight, let alone speak.

The pinkette's eyes found their way over to the picture presented on the monitor, Luka seemingly taking a second to inspect her handiwork. "Great, that'll work perfectly." She decided out loud, giving one last glance to the still deer in headlights looking tealette before beginning to pack away the camera, pink tipped fingers delicately unscrewing it from its mount atop the tripod.

Miku couldn't let that happen; there was no way she could walk around the office with that picture hanging around her neck. "L-Luka-san…" She respectfully called out, successfully stopping her pink haired boss in her tracks. "I… I know it's your decision, but… but surely we can't use that picture." She protested nervously. Luka looked completely serious and confident in her decision, leaving Miku feeling as if she had to tread carefully so as to not offend her boss. "While it does show my face, it's a little… inappropriate don't you think?"

The pinkette looked down at her teal haired employee with the same serious expression, but it wasn't long before she lost her composure completely; a few small giggles spilling from her now smiling lips. "You're right, don't worry, we won't be using that one." She revealed, simultaneously making the shorter woman feel both relieved and confused, prompting the pinkette to explain. "Sorry Miku, that was kind of mean of me. I was just messing with you a little to see your reaction." She admitted as she proceeded to set the camera back up. "We'll take some proper ones in a second, but…" Luka paused, her own cheeks turning a faint pink at what she was about to ask. "Do… do you mind if I keep that photo for myself?"

The expression on the younger woman's face morphed from one of confusion to one of surprise, albeit still with hint of confusion as to why Luka would request something like that. "Keep for yourself…?" She parroted back under her breath, trying to make sense of her boss' request. "Why would you want to do that?"

The pinkette stepped out in front of the camera, walking towards Miku as she spoke. "Well… it's a little tradition of mine." She began to explain, stopping to take another look at Miku's photograph on the screen. "In every photoshoot I have ever worked on, I always try to capture my subject when they are off guard; I always try and get one real picture of my clients during the shoot."

As she was forming her response in her head, what the pinkette had said suddenly hit the younger woman. "Wait… are you a photographer as well?" Miku certainly hadn't expected that. She had thought that Luka was purely on the managerial side of things, and that she was only taking the ID photos to help out, rather than her actually having real experience out in the field.

"I was… well, I sort of still am on occasion." Luka tried to explain, quickly deciding that she would have to give the tealette the full story, unless she wanted to further confuse the younger woman. "I started here at Crypton years ago, in the exact same position you're in today." Luka began, glad to see that her teal haired employee's interest seemed to have piqued at her story; giving her the go-ahead to continue. "I quickly specialised as a photographer and worked my way up through the ranks; working hard at my craft to be the best." Luka paused to take a breath. "It wasn't all that long before I was the best; pretty much the most sought after photographer in the whole company. I had more clients than I knew what to do with, some that refused to work with anyone but me." She went on, a nostalgic smile playing on her lips as she remembered that era of her life. "I really enjoyed it, but as I got a little older the thought of transitioning to the more managerial side of things became more and more appealing. I eventually changed the path I was on, worked my way up again, and before long I had reached the position that I'm in today." She explained; glad to have someone new to tell her old story to. "I still do a little photoshoot work for very particular clients, but it really isn't very often anymore these days."

The tealette couldn't help but smile as she listened to Luka's account of her past; her opinion of her boss once again growing better and better with each passing word. Luka wasn't just some exec, not some manager from another company brought in at the top without a clue; she actually had extensive experience in her field, she actually had to work hard to get to where she was today. Miku couldn't help but look up to Luka; not only was she young and beautiful, but she was also seemingly incredibly talented and skilled in her line of work, all whilst still managing to be one of the nicest people Miku had ever met. "Wow… you're so well suited to your current job that I never would have thought that about you. Not many people can say they've been at the top of two professions, that's… that's pretty awesome Luka." She offered genuinely; glad to see that her comments had elicited a pleased expression from the taller woman.

Miku caught the embarrassed picture of herself in the edge of her vision; her blushing face reminding her of what she had previously asked before they got side-tracked. "Oh yeah, what were you saying before… something about a tradition of yours?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, back when I was a full time photographer I tried to do it on any every shoot, but even now, any time I'm behind a camera I still can't help but continue my tradition." She began, scratching the back of her head as she spoke. "I would always do my work properly - getting all the pictures required by the client - but I liked capturing one moment of realness for myself during the shoot, rather than the facade… the mask that models usually wear." Luka explained herself to the attentive tealette. "I did a lot of work for magazines; various fashion designers and makeup brands, but no matter the product the models always looked so serious… almost expressionless sometimes." She continued, her voice holding more than a little passion about the topic. "It was almost as if their faces were just a canvas for the newest makeup, and their bodies merely animated mannequins for the latest fashions… it was almost as if they had lost what it meant to be human, and I sought to bring back a moment of that, for me and for them too."

The tealette nodded along as Luka spoke, definitely being able to her point. Be it magazines, catwalks at a fashion show, or adverts on the tv, the models did always seem to be a shell of their true selves; robotic and emotionless for the most part. She was pretty sure that those sorts of people probably had some of the most fun and interesting lives imaginable, and yet in their jobs they had to leave that all behind. It was almost like Luka was checking to see if they were still human deep down. "So, every time you were on a shoot, you would try to get a reaction like you did with me?" She questioned, getting a nod from the pinkette in return. "Did you ever get in to trouble?"

Luka chuckled at her employee's concern. "Not really, at least nothing major. I always asked them afterwards if I could keep the picture." She explained. "There were a few people now and again that weren't too happy about it, but most people were perfectly fine with it." Luka continued. "Oftentimes, people found it funny to see themselves with a goofy look on their face whilst wearing a ridiculously expensive dress or suit, finding the juxtaposition to be amusing as I did." She added, before glancing over her shoulder at the most recent continuation of her tradition. "It's fine if you're not okay with it, feel free to say no, but… do you mind if I keep that picture of you? It would really mean a lot to me."

Miku was a little apprehensive. For a shutterbug, the tealette wasn't the biggest fan of being in front of the camera, much preferring to be the one taking the pictures instead. She always felt self-conscious and even unattractive at times; so she often had a tendency to hide whenever the camera would come out like at a family event or a school festival; doing her best to avoid being photographed. So, Luka asking to keep an embarrassing picture of her was quite the leap for the younger woman. "M-maybe… but only if you promise that no one else will see it."

Luka moved in closer towards the shorter woman, sensing her apprehension. "Of course, the pictures I take off guard have always just been for my eyes only." She explained, meeting Miku's concerned gaze. "I promise you, no one else will ever see your picture, Miku."

The younger woman had still been a little unsure, but not once her eyes met Luka's. From her stare she could easily see that her boss was telling the truth, not that she ever doubted the pinkette in the first place. But it was Luka's gentle, caring look that put Miku at ease, that made her worries and insecurities vanish in a heartbeat, and what ultimately let her allow herself to answer the way she did. "Then… then you're more than welcome to keep it Luka." She replied back, her eyes still locked with the older woman's. "And after all, I'd hate to break your tradition." She added jokingly, the pair sharing a few small laughs as they broke away. Weirdly, the more she thought about it, the more Miku was coming to like the idea of Luka having a private picture of her; a moment that they had shared together that only Luka would ever get to see.

"Thank you Miku, I really appreciate it." Luka offered with a warm smile, before making her way over to the computer. "Give me a second to sort it out, and then we can get back to taking some pictures." She said as she went behind the desk, getting an acknowledging nod from the younger woman in response.

Luka reached into her purse, fumbling around for a few seconds before her hand emerged holding her personal pink flash drive, which was promptly inserted into the front of the computer. A few seconds and some audible clicking of the mouse was all it took for Miku's picture to disappear from the monitor, leaving Luka with the only remaining copy solely in her possession. "All done!" She called out to younger woman, stashing away the small storage device and returning the monitor to its original orientation before swiftly returning to her. "I copied it over and then deleted the original, no need to worry about anyone else seeing it now." She explained; glad to see that all traces of Miku's worrisome expression had completely disappeared. "Now you've calmed down and that pesky blush you had is gone, why don't we try again for another picture?" She asked with a cheeky, joking tone.

The tealette didn't mind the teasing remark, finding the comment to be more playful rather than mean. "Sounds good to me." She offered back enthusiastically, before moving back into place and facing the camera once more, her eyes following the taller woman as she moved back into her own position. Miku made a conscious effort to smile, remembering the comment Luka had made about it. She couldn't help but wonder it if was just Luka trying to get the reaction she desired out of her, or whether she had actually meant it; her brain working overtime to decide whether Luka's compliment had been genuine or not.

The pinkette watched the younger woman through her lens, finding the way she looked up and to the left as she thought to be quite the cute sight. She felt it was almost a shame to disturb her, but as the clock was still ticking, Luka didn't have much of a choice; letting the younger woman's mind drift for a few more seconds before she finally called out to her. "Miku, are you ready?" She asked softly, snapping the tealette from her thoughts.

Miku just about managed to hold back the faint blush threatening to form on her cheeks at being caught, shaking her head at herself for daydreaming in front of the older woman. "I'm ready when you are, Luka." She replied eagerly, making sure to wear her smile just as her boss had suggested.

Luka was glad to see it; her own lips curving up unconsciously to match the younger woman's expression, smiling brightly back at the tealette for a second before finally getting to work. The sound of the shutter repeatedly going off filled the room for a few moments; Luka taking multiple quick shots so that they would have a selection to choose from, before everything fell silent just as quickly as it had started. "That should hopefully be enough." She remarked, more to herself than to the tealette. "Why don't you come over to the computer and choose the one you want, Miku?"

"Nnn." Miku made a soft noise of agreement, before hastily making her way over to, and then behind the desk. She was greeted with a selection of photos of herself on the monitor; the twenty or so images lined up as thumbnails along the bottom of the screen, with a single larger image being displayed in the centre. "Let's see here…" She murmured to herself as she looked through the pictures, instantly disregarding a handful that were unsuitable; any with her eyes closed or where it looked like she had moved slightly during the photo were quickly discarded by the tealette; the selection rapidly shrinking to only a handful of decent candidates.

Luka watched from behind, not only to see which one she would ultimately pick, but also to assess Miku's ability to find flaws in photographs that would make them unusable; a small test the pinkette liked to do for all new employees, and she had to say that Miku was doing swimmingly; far better than the other five from yesterday. "You've got quite the eye on you Miku." She complemented the younger woman, her voice low and quiet as she moved in closer behind her, eventually leaning over her shoulder so that she could get a better view of the screen. "I'd also say those are the best few examples that you've chosen… any idea which one you'd like to go with?" Luka asked, her voice practically a whisper at this point, what with her lips being mere inches from the shorter woman's ear.

"Ummm…" Miku tensed up at her boss' ever increasing proximity; not even having to look around to tell just how close Luka was now. She could feel a gentle warmth emanating from the pink haired woman's body; which did nothing to help her manage her own steadily rising body temperature. And then there was her perfume… its sweet, complex aroma gradually invading her senses what with them being so close; the pleasant smell quickly intoxicating the younger woman and effortlessly rendering her unable to think. And, if that wasn't enough for the tealette, Luka silky smooth, almost sensual voice so close to her ear was more than a little exciting on its own, so when combined into a trifecta of sensory stimulation with both her scent and her warmth… Miku was having a very difficult time focusing on anything other than the tall, beautiful pinkette behind her. "Wh-what d-do you think of this one, L-Luka?" She inquired nervously, just about managing to stutter her question out.

The pinkette took a moment to inspect the image currently displayed on screen, nodding approvingly at the younger woman's choice. "That one's good; it's centred perfectly and it's lit just right." She began, but stopped when another picture caught her eye. "But…" She drew out the word as she took another small step towards the tealette, her left hand moving up to rest gently on Miku's hip as she leaned in further, using the younger woman to stabilise herself. "… What about this one?" She asked in a whisper as she pointed to the screen with her right hand.

"Err… which one?" Miku asked with uncertainty, not quite sure of the exact one her boss had pointed to, what with her mind going a little haywire at Luka's warm hand on her body. "That one?" She nervously stabbed in the dark, choosing the first one that came to mind and bringing it up on screen.

Luka chuckled softly so as to not startle the tealette due to their closeness, the breathy sound caressing the shell of Miku's right ear. "No, that one there sweetie." She corrected light-heartedly, although the message still didn't seem to be getting through to her new employee for some reason. "Let me show you." Luka whispered as she reached forward a little more and placed her hand over Miku's that was still on the mouse, gently moving it, along with Miku's hand, to the one she was thinking of. "This one. Nice bright smile, eyes open just the right amount, and with that cute little tilt of your head… I feel like this one would be perfect." She explained, using the cursor on screen to highlight the tealette's features as she spoke. "What do you think; we don't have to go with that one…" She had started, but was interrupted by the rather hasty sounding tealette.

"That one works for me too, Luka…" Miku agreed a little nervously, before she felt Luka give both her hip and her a hand a soft squeeze before she eventually pulled away, finally letting her think… and more importantly, breathe normally once again. Luka had said she was the touchy-feely type, but she hadn't been expecting that at all. However, as unexpected as it was, it certainly wasn't unpleasant to the tealette; just a little much too handle all at once.

"Great, then let's get that printed for you." She chirped enthusiastically as she moved to stand beside the tealette, observing the younger woman with an amused expression on her face; what with Miku still awkwardly standing at the computer, both hands still on the mouse and keyboard. "Miku…?" She said her name questioningly, looking at the other woman expectantly as she motioned with her head towards the computer. "I kinda need to get to the computer sweetie." She decided to clarify after a few seconds of Miku not quite getting the message.

Miku hastily moved away, almost as if she had been burned by the objects in her hands. "S-sorry Luka…" She apologised to the older woman, once again having been just a bit too caught up in her thoughts of Luka to be able to pay full attention to what was happening around her.

The pinkette flashed her employee a reassuring smile. "It's fine, don't worry about it Miku." Luka offered sweetly before stepping into the space the younger woman had just been occupying, quickly getting to work on the computer. She moved the picture they had mutually agreed on to another program, expertly resizing and manipulating it to fit the software's template in mere seconds, before sending the newly edited file to the printer sitting on desk; the device buzzing to life as it received its instructions. A few cuts on the guillotine, and a run through the laminator was all it took for Luka to create her employee's new ID badge; before slender, pink accented fingers slid the small card into an empty clear plastic holder, before attaching a company lanyard to complete the package. "All done!" She exclaimed enthusiastically, turning to face the tealette before beginning her description of the item. "This is your ID for use here at Crypton, but also for the whole building." She explained, showing the younger woman the card as she spoke. "It doesn't happen very often, but if you ever get stopped by building security, just make sure to show them this and you'll be just fine."

Miku nodded along as she listened to the taller woman, carefully taking in what Luka had to say. "Will do… let's just hope I don't lose it then." She added jokingly.

"You should be fine, just so long as you keep it around your neck I'd imagine it would be quite hard to misplace it." Luka replied with a smile. "But should that ever happen, just come to me and we can get you another made up. We already have your picture on file after all." She pointed out, before taking a step towards the tealette. "Here, let me put it on for you, Miku."

Miku's heart skipped a beat at the pinkette's words; the thought of more physical contact with her boss making her rather nervous. "O-okay…" She managed to reply, not that Luka had really been asking, more so simply telling her what she intended on doing.

It wasn't long before Luka had moved behind the shorter woman, standing almost as close as before so that she could place the lanyard around Miku's neck, adjusting it from behind so that the ID card came to rest along the centre of her body, just under her modest chest. She then proceeded to gently coax the two knee length teal twintails through the lanyard; taking extra care to make sure her overly long hair wasn't caught up along with her ID. "Wow… it's even softer than it looks." Luka whispered close to the shorter woman's ear, her hands still playing in Miku's teal tresses despite having already sorted the lanyard out. "I'm honestly a little jealous sweetheart; your hair is simply to die for."

Miku blushed heavily at the older woman's compliment; Luka's words catching her off guard again somewhat. "Th-thank you Luka… and thanks for sorting out the lanyard too." She whispered in response, glad that she spent the extra time this morning on her hair after all, especially as she could still feel the pinkette's delicate fingers running through it gently.

"No problem, it was my pleasure." Luka said with a sly grin as she took Miku by her shoulders softly and span her around to face her, before her hands came down and further adjusted the position of the tealette's ID card; lightly brushing against the front of Miku's blouse in the process. "I'm really happy with how your photo came out; it's been a while since we've had anyone as photogenic as you in the studio…" She started casually, though her expression soon saddened as she spied the clock on the wall ahead of her. "It can't be that time already." She grumbled, sounding more than a little disappointed, prompting Miku to look over her shoulder for herself. "9:05 and yet it only feels like it's been a few minutes." She said glumly, getting a nod of agreement from the younger woman; Miku also feeling as though time had flown by rapidly whilst in the studio. "Well, I would have loved to have stayed and chatted with you for a little longer, but it's probably best if we get back to work; the time is already getting on as it is."

Miku found it a little odd that she had liked the idea of them casually talking; odd because had it been anyone else that she had only known for a day, the last thing she would want is to be stuck in a room with them with nothing else to do but chat; but with Luka something felt fundamentally different to the tealette. "I suppose we should." She mirrored the older woman's disappointed tone as she nodded to her, both women then slowly making their way over to the door.

"For now Miku, it's probably best if you continue with what you were doing yesterday afternoon." She instructed, reaching for the handle of the door and pulling it open to reveal a now busy office. "We'll let you get on with that for an hour or so before Kamui-san and I come around for some more training, does that sound alright with you Hatsune-san?"

Miku smiled up at her boss. "That sounds fine to me Lu…" She started, but a gentle hand on her shoulder and a quick look into the crowded office from Luka reminded the tealette that they were no longer alone. As fun as it had been to be more relaxed around her boss and use their first names, now that they were back in public view, it was time to act professionally once again. "Sorry… that works for me Megurine-san. Thanks again for sorting everything out for me."

Luka reciprocated her employee's smile. "Not a problem at all, I was happy to help sweetie." She replied back with a cheeky little wink at her own use of her term of endearment for Miku, just after reminding her to switch back to being professional no less. "I'll see you in about an hour." She added as she gently ushered Miku out of the studio and shut the door behind them, taking a moment to secretly watch as the tealette gingerly made her back to her cubicle, unable to wipe the pleased grin from her lips as she even found Miku's particular way of walking to be especially cute, just as she did every other aspect of the younger woman.

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 **Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, finally back with a new chapter. I had every intention of updating this on the date mentioned in the previous chapter, but two days after releasing chapter 2 I experienced a massive family tragedy. So for the past few months I have just been dealing with that, which didn't leave me the time or effort to write anything at all. But, things have recently sorted themselves out somewhat, and so I'm back writing again.**

 **That being said, I'm still not back at full steam, and so this time I won't be giving a concrete update schedule, as its more than likely going to get missed at some point. Instead, I'm just going to aim for 1 chapter a month, probably near the end of each month if possible.**

 **Part of the reason for that, and partly why this chapter even exists, is because today is Luka's 10th birthday. Given the timings of things that happened I figured that I would have enough time to get just one more chapter done to be released today, but once I started writing again I soon decided that I'd fully continue with the story… so I guess you've got Luka to thank for that, at least in part.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and sorry again that it took so long.**

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Friday 17th August 2018

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Teal painted fingers slowed as they neared the end of the email they were composing, coming to a complete stop atop the keyboard shortly after their owner clicked send. "Inbox cleared… finally." Miku whispered to herself as she leant back in her chair, her hands sliding off the desk and into her lap limply; the young woman having decided that a short break was in order after about an hour of solid typing.

Her workload had steadily risen over the course of the week, with each day bringing an increase in both the amount and the difficulty of the tasks she was required to perform. Still, for Miku, the workload seemed fair; reasonably hard, but certainly doable so long as you stayed reasonably focused. "At least its Friday... the end of my first week here." She thought to herself, her hand finding her shoulder subconsciously, rubbing in small circles in an effort to alleviate the pain and tightness that had accumulated there over the week.

And what a first week it had been for Miku; filled with so many new people and experiences. There were the Kagamine twins; Rin and Len, who had started at the beginning of the week just as she had done. They were two years younger than the tealette, and fiercely competitive with each other; always trying to outdo the other in terms of work. They were seated a few rows back from Miku, so she only really got to see them during break time, but it was already enough to know them quite well as they were just about the most talkative pair of people she had ever met.

In the cubicle to her right was a thankfully much more reserved redhead by the name of Miki. She was quite shy - although not to the extent that the tealette was – and kept herself to herself for the most part; it was only their proximity that allowed them to get to know each other. It was a difficult and awkward start; what with them both being the shy type, but once Miki had properly broken the ice on Wednesday morning, they soon became good friends after discovering that they shared a few common interests.

Of course, then there was her friend from the first morning; Masuda Lily, who had been assigned to the cubicle directly behind her; allowing them to talk now and again, although not as frequently as with the redhead in the cubicle beside her. Miku had built up a solid friendship with the blonde as well, finding that their contrasting personalities led to some interesting conversations and situations. She was getting along well with pretty much everyone else too - like the pleasant purple haired man, and the almost certainly drunk brunette - it was just that those four people specifically Miku felt she had already connected with quite well. It came as a welcome surprise to the tealette, as back in school she found it incredibly hard to make friends, so to have made more in a week than in all of her high school years was quite the accomplishment to Miku.

And then there was Luka, with whom she didn't really know where she stood just yet. All she really knew for sure was that she hadn't been able to stop thinking about her all week, be it at work or at home, thoughts of her boss were always present in her mind.

It wasn't like she wasn't constantly reminded of the pinkette though; as she was her boss it meant that she was often around the office helping with training and what not; which of course meant that Miku was almost always able to see her walking by, constantly being reminded of, and enthralled by the older woman's stunning appearance; a sight which caused the tealette's heart to flutter just a little every time she happened to catch a glimpse of her pink haired boss.

It also didn't help that Luka would always rush to her aid whenever she needed assistance. Whenever anyone else called out, the pinkette would certainly help if she was nearby, but would happily allow other senior members to assist as well. But when it was Miku, and even if she was quiet about asking, Luka always made an effort to be the one helping her, even going so far as to call out from across the office to stop others like Meiko or Gakupo from getting to her first now and again, allowing her to instead rush to the tealette's side so she could be the one to help her.

Miku didn't really mind it; in fact she quite liked seemingly being the centre of the pinkette's attention, it was just that with Luka by her side on a nearly hourly basis, Miku's personal space was invaded much more frequently than she was really used to. Of course, having Luka crouched down beside her was almost always accompanied by a few 'accidental' touches of their hands, shoulders, and any exposed skin in general. And then there was her voice; that oh so soft… almost sensual voice that she seemed to use exclusively for her, that given their often overly close proximity in Miku's cubicle, was all too often nerve rackingly close to her ear. All of that combined with just the overall closeness and her boss' apparent disregard for personal space made their little help sessions very intense for the still rather shy and awkward tealette.

And now that it was Friday it was even worse for Miku; it had been bad in the week, but today her mind was completely filled with thoughts of Luka, all because of what awaited her in a few short minutes. As it was Friday, it meant that her first end of week review with the pinkette was today, and while Miku was justifiably nervous about the work side of things - how she was doing so far, what her boss thought of her purely as an employee for example - there was something else that had been playing on her mind all day. What had effortlessly been consuming her thoughts was the fact that, just like everyone else who had come before her so far today, Miku was about to be alone with Luka again whilst they had their meeting, and for ten to fifteen minutes no less. Just that simple concept was enough to get the tealette all worked up; her mind conjuring up various scenarios as to what their meeting would be like; her imagination running a little wild throughout the day, especially when she remembered their previous encounter in the photo studio a few days ago.

It didn't help that she was seemingly going to be last out of everyone; she couldn't help but think that it would have been much better to have got it over and done with earlier in the day; that way she wouldn't have had to worry about it for so long like she ended up doing. But, as Lily was currently in with their boss right now, and from what she could remember seeing, everyone else had already had their turn; it did indeed look like she was the only one left, which made sense as it was fast approaching 4:45.

Miku shook her head, coming back to her senses after realising she had spent the last couple minutes over thinking things once again; probably for the tenth time already today. "She'll be out any minute now, stop spacing out and get some work done." The tealette internally berated herself, swiftly getting back to work on her computer. She wasted no time in picking up where she left off, rapidly matching her quick pace from a few minutes ago as she wanted to be hard at work when Luka was finally ready for her. She tried her best to concentrate on her work, wanting to get as much done before the end of the day as possible, and whilst she was very focused on the tasks in front of her, thoughts of her pink haired boss were still playing in the back of her mind all the while, despite her best efforts in blocking them out.

She was so focused on her work - and on trying not to think about the pinkette - that she didn't even hear both Lily and Luka return to the main office a minute later, nor did she hear the sound of her boss softly calling out her name from the doorway. And so, it was quite the surprise when the pink haired beauty appeared next to her; crouching down beside her with a gentle smile gracing her lips. "Ahh, so that's why you didn't hear me… look at you working away." Luka remarked, genuinely impressed at Miku's dedication to the job, before lightly placing her hand on her employee's shoulder. "You know…" She started a little quieter than before, her voice gaining the tealette's attention. "You don't have to work so hard all the time. It is Friday afternoon after all, and you're doing great as far as your workload is concerned." She explained softly, pausing for a short moment to flash the younger woman a bright smile. "Don't be afraid to take it easy now and again… you've definitely earned it Hatsune-san."

Miku nodded her head, looking up at the older woman for a second before inevitably losing her nerve and looking away. "O-okay…" She stuttered in response, before the need to apologize for essentially ignoring her boss became too much to hold in. "And sorry for not responding a minute ago… I was honestly really tuned out of reality there."

Luka smiled down at the younger woman, giving her shoulder a soft squeeze. "There's no need to apologize, in fact I'm glad that you're focused and interested in your work." She offered in response, once again getting a confirming nod from the tealette in place of words. "But I am going to have to tear you away from your desk and your work for a little while." Luka light-heartedly joked. "Speaking of which, are you ready for our meeting now, or do you need a few minutes to finish up with anything?"

Miku couldn't help but smile back up at the pinkette, partly from the amusing comment, but mostly because Luka's own grin was simply impossible to resist reciprocating. "I had actually just finished what I'd been doing, so I'm all good to go now."

"Great!" The older woman exclaimed cheerily, glad to see that beautiful, albeit somewhat rare smile gracing her employee's lips again. "If you'd like to follow me then to my office." She instructed as she stood up, waiting a few seconds for the younger woman to do the same before departing together.

Miku followed the older woman closely as they walked through the office, soon reaching, and quickly passing through the glass fronted area, before finally arriving at the door to Luka's office; one of the only doors she had not yet been through, nor had she really seen more than a glimpse here and there as to what lie behind it; the mystery only adding to the younger woman's slightly anxious anticipation.

Luka gripped at the somewhat ornate looking brass handle, giving it a gentle push down before swinging the thick hardwood door open. "Here we are!" She announced, promptly stepping inside and standing beside the door; holding it open for the tealette to come through after her.

Miku did just that, taking a few short steps into her boss's office, although she stopped just as soon as she had started in order to take in her new surroundings. The room was fairly big; considerably larger than the other private offices she had seen up until this point, giving it a very spacious and open atmosphere right from the get go. Directly ahead of her, a meter or so away from the back wall was a large mahogany desk, complete with a top of the line monitor and an expensive looking executive leather chair behind it, with two more modest chairs in front; presumably where she would be sitting soon enough.

As her eyes focused out further, Miku quickly revaluated the notion that what was behind Luka's desk was in fact a wall. Whilst it certainly was at the bottom, once you reached about waist height it sharply transitioned into three ultra-wide, crystal clear windows, which even at this distance gave a spectacular view of the bustling Tokyo skyline, all the while letting in a great deal of natural light, which only served to improve the already pleasant feel of the office space.

After spending a few seconds taking in the view, the tealette's gaze shifted to the side walls of the room. They were as long as the back window wall, giving the office an almost perfect square shape, albeit a rather large one, but the thing that Miku found interesting was how her boss had decorated them. Along the left wall were five huge framed magazine covers that were easily as tall as herself, presumably publications that Luka was the most proud of from her photography career. Whether they were from a renowned fashion magazine, or from one that was more art or photography orientated, Miku knew one thing for sure, and that was that they were all incredibly impressive.

Although not as impressive as what lay along the right wall; at least not in Miku's eyes… that being three fancy looking display cabinets, each holding something more impressive than the last. Closest to the door was one that was clearly used for displaying her awards; each shelf and compartment filled with plaques, the odd medal and even a trophy here and there; presumably accolades and awards from her heyday as a hotshot photographer. Beyond that was the sparsest of the displays; its cabinet only holding a handful of antique and historic cameras, with numerous spots remaining empty. "I guess she's still working on that collection." Miku thought to herself before her gaze finally reached the last, and most appealing one of the bunch.

Nearest to her boss' desk, the last cabinet was full of more modern cameras, with many models that the tealette easily recognised. Unlike the one before it, this display was on the verge of being overcrowded; the shelves filled with high end digital cameras, DSLRs, and even a pair of fully fledged cinema cameras, all presumably cameras that her boss had personally used and owned over her professional career, now retired and put together into a pretty extensive and remarkable collection.

With a pleased expression on her face, Luka allowed the younger woman a minute to take in her new surroundings, happy to see the wide eyed, and impressed look on Miku's features; not at all minding that their meeting was being delayed somewhat.

Miku took a little while longer to fully finish scanning the room, her eyes just about having explored every square inch available before they finally met with the pinkette's, who was looking down at her with an amused expression on her face as she continued to hold the heavy looking door open for her. "Ahh... sorry Megurine-san… I didn't realise." Miku apologised profusely as she quickly stepped further into the office, taking a second to silently chastise herself for once again spacing out in front of her boss.

Luka couldn't stop herself from laughing softly, the sweet sound filing the otherwise quiet office. "It's really not a problem at all." She reassuringly said as she finally let the door close, making sure to lock it behind them for privacy. "You're welcome to take as much time as you need to take in your surroundings." She offered politely as she made her way over to her desk. "It can be a little daunting for some people being in unfamiliar surroundings, especially when it's during their first meeting with their boss, so please don't feel the need to rush."

Miku couldn't help but notice the door being locked; her heart speeding up just a little at the thought of being locked in all alone with Luka. Though, she soon rationalised that it was most likely just so they wouldn't be disturbed during their meeting. "Umm… it's not really that." She started, turning to face the pink haired woman before speaking again. "I was just trying to take all of this in. It's really impressive; the collections, the magazine covers, I… I had no idea you were so distinguished."

Luka, now sitting on the end of her desk, smiled brightly at the younger woman's compliment. "Why, thank you Miku. I have to admit… I'm quite proud of all of this." She replied, her voice clearly full of pride, yet thankfully not holding a trace of arrogance or cockiness. "It's nice to have something to show for all your hard work, you know?" She asked, getting and understanding nod from the tealette. "And who knows, maybe in five years' time, you too could have an office just like this if you keep working hard… in fact, I'm sure of it." She offered encouragingly, a genuine smile playing on her lips.

A light pink tinge grew on the tealette's cheeks, her gaze falling to the floor at Luka's comment. It really sounded like her boss believed in her; a very pleasant and comforting thought indeed. "Th-thank you Megurine-san." She offered back shyly, taking a moment longer to think about the pinkette's encouraging words before composing herself. "Should I take a seat here, or…?"

Luka nodded, gesturing at the chair in front of her desk for added clarity. "Yes, just there is fine." She promptly replied as she hopped off of her desk and walked behind it, stopping just before she took her seat to address the younger woman again. "You know, you're more than welcome to call me Luka again now. Anytime it's just us, don't be shy of switching back to first names… although only if you want to of course?" She added with as she lowered herself into the high backed chair, holding eye contact with the tealette as she descended.

Given that they hadn't spent any other real time alone since taking her ID photo on Tuesday, Miku hadn't been sure if she was allowed to keep calling her boss Luka, or if it was only a one off thing, so she definitely wasn't going to go first and risk being wrong… Luka was still her boss after all. So she was glad that the pinkette had initiated, partly because it removed the uncertainty from the situation, but also just because she liked using first names with the older woman. "Definitely, I don't mind at all, Luka." She replied eagerly, as she too took her seat and got comfortable.

Luka nodded acceptingly, flashing a small smile at her employee before shifting her gaze to her computer monitor. "Just give me one moment here, and then we can get started." Luka said as she worked, bringing up Miku's personnel file on the screen, taking a few seconds to review the performance numbers now displayed in front of her. "Well…" She smiled once again as she looked back towards Miku, placing her hands in her lap gracefully. "I'll let you know my thoughts about you in a moment, but first, I wanted to ask how you think you are doing, as well as how your first week went on the whole?" She spoke very professionally, leaning back in her chair as she awaited Miku's response.

The tealette took a second to think about her answer before responding; she hadn't really been expecting their interview to start out like that at all. "My first week was actually pretty good to be honest. It's all still very new; both the people here and the work itself, but I feel like I'm getting along well with the other staff members, and I think I've just about found my feet in terms of the work… all of which I'm finding to be interesting and exciting." She offered in response, quite surprised at herself for not stuttering even once.

Luka nodded along slowly as Miku spoke, attentively taking in everything the younger woman had to say. "That's really good to hear." She said enthusiastically before leaning forward, resting her elbows on the desk with her hands together. "And how do you think you're doing in terms of the workload? Where would you rank yourself when compared to the other staff for example?"

Deep down, Miku felt as if she was doing perfectly fine… doing well in fact, but her lack of self-confidence quickly chipped away at her idea of her office standing; transforming her answer into a much more conservative one than what she really should have given. "If I had to guess… I would hope that I'm least doing okay… maybe around average, but only compared to the other new hires of course." She replied doubtfully.

The pinkette's brow furrowed slightly; almost as if she was disappointed or even saddened by Miku's answer." Hmm… that's an interesting view you have there Miku, but you really should have more faith in yourself and in your abilities." She offered reassuringly, her caring and concerned expression soon morphing into a much more pleased and joyous one. "I'm happy to say that you are doing exceptionally well, Miku… far beyond our expectations of such a new employee." Luka revealed energetically, getting a surprised, almost confused look from the younger woman across from her, prompting her to go on and explain further. "You've exceeded your daily quotas by around fifty percent on average, and all whilst maintaining a high degree of accuracy and consistency." She explained, enjoying watching the transition of Miku's expression from surprised, through to pure disbelief, before finally settling on one of genuine pride and self-satisfaction. "You're the most promising new recruit we've had in a long time. In fact, you're already working at the expected level of someone who has been here between six and twelve months, despite you having only being here a week."

Miku couldn't have been more surprised, but she was certainly glad to hear that she was doing so well. "I honestly never thought I was anywhere close to that level." Miku revealed, clearly a little bewildered. "I mean, it's not like the work is really hard, but it certainly isn't easy either… I honestly thought I might have been doing slightly better than the others at best." She added, before thinking back to what she had just said. "Though… I can only imagine that it will get more difficult as time goes on?" She half stated, half asked, raising the tone of her voice towards the end of her sentence to form it into a question.

"That's correct. The complexity, variety and overall difficulty will gradually increase as time goes on. You'll be gaining a number of new tasks and responsibilities in the coming weeks, but don't worry… I'll be there to help you whenever you need me Miku." She offered compassionately, before suddenly sitting up in her chair and clearing her throat once she realised what she had just let slip. "And by that, I mean the team will be here to help and support you." Luka said with a faint blush adorning her cheeks, before quickly deciding to move the conversation along.

"Anyways, I don't really have much else to say, Miku. Your performance is outstanding, you're punctual, respectful, and a really fast learner on top of everything." She praised enthusiastically, checking over Miku's file one last time. "This is the part of the meeting where I would usually give advice and tips, or even disciplinary action in some cases, but none of that is really necessary with you." She went on; even sounding a little surprised herself at just how perfect an employee Miku seemed to be. "The only advice I can give you is to just keep doing what you're doing… that's if you want to keep impressing me of course." She added the last part in a more light-hearted, but still meaningful tone.

Miku was pretty sure she had never smiled this wide in her whole life. She was doing well in her first real job, she was getting along with everyone at work almost as if she had never struggled with it before, and most of all, she had seemingly made a great first impression on her boss; the woman who she looked up to and already practically revered, especially after seeing her office in all its glory today. "Thank you, Luka… I'll be sure to keep working hard." She replied professionally, earning a pleased smile from her pink haired boss. "Is there anything else we need to discuss, or is the meeting finished now?" She asked with genuine curiosity, making sure not to sound pushy or as if she was trying to rush the meeting to an early conclusion.

"Well, we've got all of the business-y talk out of the way, so you're free to go if you'd like. But seeing as we have quite a bit of time left, I was just wondering if you would like to stay and chat for a while?" The pinkette asked tentatively; a tad worried that Miku wouldn't be interested. However, she was soon put at ease when the younger woman across from her nodded strongly after taking a moment to think over her proposition. "Great. I was thinking that since I didn't get to interview you when you applied, I missed out on getting a more personal impression of you." She started, leaning onto her desk, effectively bringing them a little closer together. "So would you mind if we just chatted about you personally? I feel like I've come to know the more professional side of Miku during this first week, but I'd really like to get to know you more as a person now… of course, only if you're happy to talk with me about that sort of thing."

Miku wanted to grant her boss' request, but she was more than a little nervous and unsure about proceeding. If there was one subject she didn't really like talking about it was herself; she never knew what to say half the time, and when she did she always felt as she, and her life, simply weren't interesting enough to warrant talking about in any great detail. Plus, it came as a surprise to Miku that the older woman would ask for such a thing; here she was, in a room filled with countless references to her incredible life, and Luka wanted to know about hers… the woman she revered and respected so much already was actually interested in knowing more about the Miku outside of work. "Umm… I guess. I… I don't mind." She started nervously, racking her brain for a good way to start the conversation. "I… err… I'm not really sure what to say to be honest." She fumbled as she tried to hold Luka's gaze. "Wh-what would you like to know?"

"Anything really; whatever works for you." She offered in an attempt to make the younger woman feel more open and welcome, but if anything it only seemed to worsen the look on Miku's face; one of uncertainty and awkwardness, quickly prompting Luka to ask her follow up question in order to ease the pressure on the tealette. "For instance, how did you get into photography?"

A wave of relief washed over the tealette at her boss' question. Now, not only did she only have to respond, but it was actually on a topic she was excited to talk about. "Ah… well, ever since I was a little kid I had a thing for taking photos. Back when me and my family used to go on holiday, my mom would always get me one of those disposable cameras." She started joyfully, finding it quite easy to talk about this topic in particular. "When I was really young, I would burn through the whole film in just the first couple days. But as I got older I made my shots count more; only taking photos at the right moments." She went on, unable to stop herself from smiling as the happy memories from the simpler times in her life played through her head like a film. "By the time I was a teenager I often wouldn't even use the whole film by the end of the trip, as I would always save a few shots just in case something came up on the last few days that I just had to photograph." She continued before stopping to take a breath, not exactly used to talking so much in such a short stretch of time.

Luka listened along with a bright smile playing on her lips; glad to see her teal haired employee brimming with energy and glee as she recalled her childhood, she too feeling a pang of nostalgia at Miku's words. "I used to love those little cameras; though it was a shame that they could be a smidge unreliable. I'm pretty sure I had some great shots that never came out properly on them." Luka offered in return, getting an all too understanding nod from the younger woman.

"Tell me about it; I had so many potentially great photos ruined before I even got the chance to see them." She started passionately, subconsciously leaning back in her chair as she got rapidly more comfortable with the pink haired woman. "It really made me appreciate my first real camera all the more." She added with the intent of stopping there, but her comment seemingly piqued her boss' interest; the older woman leaning in further, with a look on her face that was practically begging her to continue.

"My parents got it for my sixteenth birthday. It wasn't anything fancy; just an entry level digital camera, but having the freedom to take as many photos as I wanted was a really great feeling." Miku said as recalled the now retired camera. While it may have been replaced with a more modern and fully featured one a couple years ago, it still was not forgotten and held a special place in her heart; as did many of the memories she captured through its lens. "I spent the rest of the summer holidays that year just taking pictures, and when I went back to school, I dropped out of the music club and formed the photography club, where I was club president until the end of high school."

"Really?" Luka asked a little incredulously, getting a confirming little nod from the younger woman. She hadn't really expected the somewhat shy and timid tealette to have been the president of a school club, so it came as quite the pleasant surprise to hear that from Miku. "I must say I'm impressed, Miku. That must have great, right?"

Miku flashed her boss a meek smile, her expression not looking so convinced. "It… it was okay. There were only a few members besides me, and none of them were really that in to photography, at least not as much as I am." She started, before her mind started to drift back to her high school days. Even though it had been years ago, she could still remember their clubroom as if she been there just yesterday, what with having spent so much of her time there. Along with her and her best friend Gumi, the club consisted of only a few other permanent members; notably a troubled student that had been assigned to the club with the fewest members, and a girl who's interest in photography just about rivalled her own, but who was constantly arguing with her and trying to steal her position as club president away from her.

And finally, the fifth member of the club was her blue haired upperclassmen, Kaito. She met him soon after she started the club; what with him being one of the only members to have joined willingly, although not because of an interest in photography. She didn't know it at the time - instead finding out shortly after they started dating - but Kaito was actually interested in her, and so he joined Miku's club in an effort to get to know her better. However, even though Miku had had a crush on the bluenette as well, she never acted on it, and because he was a bit too awkward himself, things never really went anywhere whilst they were both still at school.

It was only after a couple of years, after she had left school and was attending college, that they bumped into each other out of the blue. Having a few more years under their belts by that time, they had both become more mature individuals, and so after catching up over dinner they managed to hit it off this time around. They soon started dating officially, and it wasn't long before she eventually fell in love with the blue haired man, moving in with him shortly after returning his confession.

Luka couldn't help but find the way the tealette had drifted off into her own head to be rather cute, though after about thirty seconds of silence from the younger woman, she was also starting to feel just a tad concerned. "You okay, Miku? You're kinda spacing out on me there." The pink haired woman said half-jokingly, admittedly glad that her words had been enough to bring Miku back to reality, and to their conversation.

"Ahh, sorry." Miku apologised as she shook her head at herself, thankfully getting a small wave from the older woman, partly to say that it was fine, and partly for her to go on. "I was just thinking back to my time in the club. It's been a while since I really thought about it, so I kinda got caught up in my memories of everything… of everyone." Miku explained.

"Anyone in particular?" Luka asked a little nosily, unable to resist the urge to probe for some more information, her question earning a small look of surprise from the younger woman. "You seemed to be pretty deep in thought; perhaps over someone important?" She rationalised, forming her statement into a question almost subconsciously.

Miku hesitated on giving her response, before the realisation that she was even hesitating at all soon hit her. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she didn't really want to tell Luka about Kaito just yet; almost as if some part of her didn't want the pinkette to know that she a had a boyfriend for some odd reason. "I… err… my friend, Gumi." Miku half lied; while she had been thinking about Kaito for the most part, she had also briefly thought of her green haired friend as well. "My best friend since junior high; she was part of the photography club with me." She elaborated, sounding a little nervous as she skirted around the truth. "She didn't really want to be there, but I begged her to join to get the numbers up, and so thankfully she did; even staying all the way until the end of high school just for me.

Luka gave her employee a sympathetic smile. "It was really nice of her to do that for you; she sounds like a great friend. It's just a shame that she had to in the first place… a shame that your club didn't have that many members." She offered with a caring tone. "But even though there wasn't that many of you, you at least got to do what you enjoyed, right?"

The younger woman sighed, her face showing hints of sadness as she thought of the answer to the pinkette's question. "Sometimes… if everyone was behaving themselves." She started, getting a concerned and questioning look from Luka. "More often than not, half of the people didn't even bother to show up, but when they did, I kinda wish they hadn't. Despite being club president they would never listen to me; either arguing with me, or just plain ignoring me." She explained; noticing the saddened and sympathetic look forming in her boss' eyes. "I… I wasn't very popular at school; what with being a 'nerd' for photography and computers and all… I wasn't exactly the sort of person who commanded a lot of respect." She continued, putting nerd in air quotes as she spoke. "Part of the reason I asked Gumi to join was because she was a lot cooler and more popular than me, and so I had hoped that her being there would've attracted more people to join the club." She said as she scratched the back of her head nervously, before looking up to meet the older woman's eyes. "But… even she wasn't enough to counter my nerdy reputation I guess."

Luka wanted to go around to the front of her desk and hug the poor tealette; it sounded like she didn't have the best time at school at all. "You poor thing. I'm sorry it was like that for you; school can be really rough sometimes, and needlessly so at that." She offered with great care and concern clear in her voice, her tone very sympathetic.

The sound piqued Miku's attention, prompting her to quickly put her smile back on her face in an effort to put Luka at ease. "It's no big deal; it was just the way school was for me, I'm pretty sure everyone had it rough at some point. And besides, now that I'm away from all that and in the adult world, I soon realised that it's nothing like how it used to be at school; almost as if what happened back then, no matter how bad it seemed at the time, doesn't really matter now." She pointed out, getting an understanding nod from her boss, though still paired with a worried facial expression.

"It's fine… really. I had a couple good friends, and still do for that matter, and I think that was all I really needed to get me through." She reassured the older woman across from her. "If anything, the way I was treated… it's almost helped me toughen up a bit. And now that I'm away from it all; the cliques, the bullies, and all the other negatives of school, I'm definitely coming out of my shell more and starting to feel more confident about myself."

While she still felt sorry for her, Luka was at least glad that Miku had taken the bad and managed to spin it as a positive, also happy that the younger woman seemed to be doing well and was growing as a person. "At least that's all behind you now, and instead of letting it get to you, you've learnt from it and are doing well despite it." She offered respectfully, before glancing at the time on her computer screen. "Well… we haven't got too long left. So just before we finish, I wanted to ask if there was anything else you had to say about the work; any last remarks, complaints perhaps… or just simply anything on your mind?"

Miku took a second to think on her boss' question, her hand unconsciously going to her shoulder again. "Nothing in particular…" She started, drawing her words out to give her a little more time to think, before it eventually hit her. "Well there is one thing." She said a little sheepishly, Luka gesturing for her to continue, what with her having paused for a few seconds after speaking. "I'm not sure if its work related, and it's not too big of a deal or anything… it's just that my shoulders have been hurting recently." She revealed, meekly rubbing her sore shoulder as she spoke to give more credence to her words. "I think it might be from where I'm not used to working at a desk all day; I've noticed the pain gets worse throughout the day, and by the end of the day it's always a little worse than it was at the same time the day before." She added, tweaking her tight muscles for an ounce of relief, before looking back up at the older woman. "I'm sure I'll get used to it in time, I'll just have to deal with the pain in the meantime."

"I can't allow that." Luka declared with great seriousness, practically jumping out of her chair with a concerned look on her face. Without wasting any time, she quickly walked around to the front of her desk, sitting on the corner with an effortless elegance. "Before I leave work today, I'll make sure to put in an order for a more supportive chair for you."

Miku certainly hadn't expected that; her mouth forming into a surprised little o-shape at the pinkette's statement. "R-really? You don't have to do that for me; wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

Luka flashed the younger woman a pleasant smile as she shook her head no. "Of course not, it's no trouble at all. I want to keep my employees healthy and happy." She replied, before leaning in a little closer. "Especially ones that I know we will be keeping." She added in a jokingly hushed tone, winking playfully at the tealette.

The younger woman giggled at her boss' playful attitude, taking a second to compose herself before she opened her mouth to protest. But, as her eyes scanned Luka's determined looking face, it quickly became clear to Miku that that her boss had made up her mind. And so, she instead smiled up at the pinkette brightly, genuinely appreciative of the unexpected kind gesture. "Thank you so much, Megu… err… Luka. I know that more supportive chairs aren't exactly cheap, so I really appreciate you doing that for me."

Luka smiled back as she stood up, straightening out her skirt to remove the wrinkles that had built up in the fabric. "Again, it's really not a problem, Miku. I'm just glad I can help." She offered in reply as she slowly took the few steps over to the side of the tealette's chair. "How do your shoulders feel at the moment… is the pain quite bad?" She worriedly asked, looking down at her employee with concern clear in her eyes.

Miku definitely felt a little intimidated, what with the taller woman standing over her seated position, their current vast height difference causing her to break eye contact much more frequently than earlier during the meeting. "I-its honestly kinda bad." She admitted with a stutter. "But I think I can live with it… I do have the weekend to rest up after all." Miku pointed out, finally managing to make, but more importantly, hold eye contact with the pinkette, even if it meant craning her neck in order to do so.

However, through no fault of Miku's, it didn't last for long. Luka looked away, her eyes uncertain if only for a second, her gaze no longer locked with the tealette's. Instead, it was off in the clouds as she took a moment to ponder over something seemingly important or difficult. "You know… I could help with that as well." Luka began a little meekly, earning a questioning tilt of the head from the younger woman. "I… I can give you a shoulder massage if you'd like?"

Miku's eyes widened in shock at what her pink haired boss had just proposed, the feeling of surprise swiftly followed by thoughts of Luka touching her filling her mind. "I… umm…" She stammered as blood reflexively rushed to her face, painting her cheeks a nice, bright red. She couldn't help but find the idea to be rather stimulating, yet at the same time she felt the situation would be incredibly inappropriate… there was no way she could let Luka… her boss, do that for her. "I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm going to have to decline… I couldn't make you do that; it just wouldn't seem right."

Now that she had put herself out there, Luka wasn't going to back down without a fight. "I insist… I'd be more than happy to rub your shoulders for you; you wouldn't be making me do anything I wasn't okay with." She replied enthusiastically, moving around to the front of the chair and crouching down in front of the tealette. "You look like you're visibly in pain… I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing that I could have helped an employee out, but didn't." Luka went on, pleased to see the resolve showing in Miku's facial features waning a little. But as there was still obvious hesitation, the pinkette elected to continue. "There's really nothing to worry about. It's not a problem for me, and it would only be for a few minutes." She continued, her voice almost sounding a little pleading and desperate at this point. "It's just between you and me. We have five minutes of privacy, it will be fine… trust me."

The idea of a shoulder massage did sound good to the tealette; not only from the thought of the pain relief that was sure to come from it, but also, and rather strangely so, at the thought of having some physical contact with Luka. Then there was the way the older woman had almost begged her to do it; almost as if she actually wanted to give her a massage. Taking all of this in to consideration, Miku took a few seconds for some internal deliberation before she finally came to her decision. "O-okay then... but only for a few minutes; I don't want you to be late leaving because of me." She answered a bit reluctantly, equal parts nervous and excited for what she had just agreed on.

"Don't worry about that, I hardly even get away on time anyways." Luka said with a comforting smile, before standing up and moving behind the tealette. "If you could sit up straight and lean back into the chair for me that would be great." She instructed, hovering in place behind the younger woman whilst she got comfortable. "Perfect. Now… just relax, and before you know it your pain will gone in no time." She said playfully, before gently placing her hands on Miku's shoulders and getting to work.

Miku's breath caught in her throat at the light contact, her heart racing away in her chest even faster than it had been in anticipation of the older woman touching her. She could hardly even believe this was happening; the manager of a big company massaging her employee's shoulders, all whilst they were alone together in her office sounded rather… taboo to the tealette, yet that was exactly what was currently going on. She could feel Luka's long, warm fingers gently digging into her skin through her shirt, and from their new closer proximity, Miku noticed the return of that familiar perfume from the other day; it's complex aroma rapidly invading her nostrils now that they were so close again. She could even feel the presence of Luka's ample chest just above and behind her head; her larger than average breasts casting a significant shadow from above. All of this together was rather overstimulating to the younger woman; and so instead of being able to relax into the massage, it only served to make the younger woman tense up even further.

That fact didn't go unnoticed by the pinkette. "It's worse than I thought; I can really feel a lot of tension in your shoulders." She remarked as she gently rubbed, leaning down a little closer to the younger woman. "Try to relax for me sweetie. I won't be able to help you if you're so tense." She instructed lowly, getting some response from the tealette. "That's it, let your shoulders come down naturally, and try to loosen up your neck as well if you can." She continued, once again noticing her employee's posture shift, glad that Miku was following her advice. "Good, the more relaxed you are, the better I can take care of you." She added in an unintentionally sultry whisper.

Miku was beyond embarrassed; her head filled with thoughts of just how inappropriate this was, but at the same time, she couldn't deny that she was secretly enjoying the closeness of the older woman. The feeling of the pinkette's hands on her body was great in its own way, but what Miku loved most was Luka's voice in her ear; the soft and silky sound somehow helping her to relax just as she had been instructed to. "I'll try my best to relax." She offered in return just as quietly, releasing the breath she didn't realise she had been holding up until now, relaxing even further into both the chair, and into Luka's care as she exhaled.

Luka smiled to herself. "That's perfect; if you can stay like this I'm sure I'll be able to get even the deepest knots out." She praised, kneading her shoulders a little more forcefully now. "Be sure to let me know where it hurts sweetie."

Miku nodded in acknowledgment. "Could… could you go a little higher… just at the base of my neck please?" She requested in a shy and endearing manner, glad to hear Luka oblige verbally, but even happier when she felt the taller woman's fingers lightly caress their way up to the exact spot she had been thinking about. "Ahh… right there." She called out appreciatively, her breathing already starting to get a little ragged from the new and intense sensations. The massage really was top notch, in less than a minute she could already feel a noticeable difference; the pain simply melting away with each passing moment. "It feels… it feels really good, Luka. Your hands are amazing." She said a little drowsily, now fully relaxed into the massage.

The pinkette's smile grew wider at Miku's compliment. "Thank you. I was a masseuse for a few months before I started here." She revealed, digging her thumbs into Miku's upper back; causing the younger woman to arch out of her chair a little. "Looks like I still remember where all the stress is stored…" She started, before sliding her fingers down to a particular area in order to see if it would work on Miku. "… and where most people have a sensitive spot." She announced, not giving the younger woman any time to react before she gently kneaded into it, getting even more of a reaction from her teal haired employee than she could have hoped for.

Miku's head rolled back reflexively; an intense wave of pleasure surging through her body at such a simple touch, one so intense that it would have caused her to moan had she not caught herself at the last second; the sound instead being transformed into a little hiss as it left her lips through clenched teeth. "Nnn, it's definitely sensitive there…" She admitted a tad breathlessly, following up her words with a nervous little laugh in the hopes of skipping over her reaction just now.

Luka found the whole thing to be incredibly cute; the nervous laugh, her strong physical reaction… it all just made her want to do it again. "It certainly was; that spot works nearly every time… just not usually that well." She stated softly, her fingers lingering near the spot for a second before she decided that she wanted to save it for later, quickly returning her hands to Miku's shoulders to instead focus on actually helping out her employee; wasting no time in returning to a quite forceful rhythm with her kneading.

For Miku, the relief increased whilst the pain steadily decreased as time went on, but one thing that was also on the rise was the pleasure from being touched, and it wasn't just as a consequence of the pain relief. Instead, it was pure… unadulterated pleasure from the older woman's actions; pleasure so great that with each firm squeeze of Luka's hands and every strong push of her thumbs into her rapidly loosening muscles, Miku was left on the verge of moaning out loud… each potentially embarrassing sound more difficult to restrain or muffle than the last. The worst ones - brought about by particularly long or deep rubs - were all but impossible to fully hide, with the tealette opting instead to vent them as hisses, much as she had done earlier before.

It didn't go unnoticed by the older woman, who after a few particularly load hisses, eased up to a much more gentle pressure, her hands practically idling on Miku's shoulders, "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I, Miku?" She worriedly questioned, causing the shorter woman to turn and look up at her with a curious look on her face. "You sounded like you were in pain; hissing and wincing like that… I just wanted to check that I wasn't being too rough with you." She explained, though her voice sounded subtly as if she knew what the cause really was.

Miku blushed, quickly turning away from her boss and making eye contact with the floor. "N-no, not at all… it actually f-felt really good." She replied, adding the last part in a nervous whisper, before quickly deciding that now was probably a good time to wrap things up; using the break in the massage as an opportunity to stop before things got out of hand and she ended up properly embarrassing herself. "I'm feeling much better as a matter of fact, so it's probably best if we stop now and head home." She blurted out her words quickly, before standing up and checking the clock above the door. "And just look at the time; it's already five, so I shouldn't keep you any longer." She added as she collected herself and started for the door.

Luka felt like they had made great progress, but she definitely didn't want things to stop just yet. "Wait!" She called out, stepping around the chair and placing her hands back on Miku's shoulders, kneading firmly once again. "I can still feel some tension." She stated as she stepped in closer, standing just a few inches behind the shorter woman. "Now that I've started, it's best that I get it all out. It can end up coming back worse if you stop halfway through."

Miku was having a hard time refusing, the return of the sublime sensation getting in the way of rational thought. "Are… are you sure you don't mind… you don't have to do this for me, Luka." She replied lowly, her eyes rolling back in her head at just how good her boss was with her hands.

Without even having to think, or more accurately, without having time to think, Luka said the first thing that came to mind. "But I want to…" She declared seriously, her voice low and almost sultry as she eased them back to the chair in short shuffles. "It's really no problem for me at all… please?"

Miku shivered at her boss' words… she wanted to? It sounded so seductive when she said it, and it was for that very reason that made it strangely impossible for her to refuse the pink haired woman. "O-okay…" She whispered as she slowly sat back down, Luka's hands never leaving her shoulders as they guided her back down into her seat; thankful of the added support they gave to her ever so wobbly legs. "I'm in your care, Luka." She added, relaxing for all but a few seconds before she registered the feeling of the pinkette's lips right by her ear; her hot, slightly uneven breaths caressing her burning skin electrifyingly.

"Thank you Miku…" She offered lowly, before inching ever closer. "Oh, and you don't need to be embarrassed; my office is practically soundproof, so you can let your voice out as much as you like." She whispered seductively, before pulling away and getting back to work as if that didn't just happen. "It lets me know if I hit the right spot."

The tealette blushed profusely, not only at the hot voice in her ear, but at the fact that Luka knew she had been holding in her moans; the realisation causing her eyes to screw shut in embarrassment. "O-okay…" She murmured in return, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, knowing that Luka wouldn't be able to work properly if she remained as tense as she was now.

It didn't take too long before Luka's mind blowing massage helped her to forget her embarrassment though, the sensations rendering her unable to think about anything other than her boss and her seemingly magic hands. But at the same time, it wasn't long before Luka's fingers started to feel just too damn good again; the overwhelming urge to moan soon returning stronger than ever. And so, as embarrassing and inappropriate as she felt it was, Miku heeded Luka's words and let out her first soft moan, her eyes fluttering closed as she finally decided to just go with it.

Deep blue gave way to pitch black; Luka's eyes dilating at the surprisingly erotic sounds that spilled from her employee's lips, perfect teeth biting her own lower lip with restrained want. She hadn't expected that the cute tealette would have such adult and delicious sounding moans; the sooner than expected sounds sending a shiver up her spine. "H-how does it feel?" She asked with a small stutter; the intensity of their situation even getting to the more experienced and sophisticated pinkette a little, prompting her to pause for a second to collect herself before she started rubbing again.

Miku's head rolled back in pleasure, her lips falling open once again from her boss' touch. "Nnng… it's amazing… truly." She answered honestly, letting herself fully enjoy Luka's massage after a long first week. "I've never felt anything this good… ahh… right there…" She continued with her praise of the older woman, a soft moan interrupting her mid-way through.

With that, the pink and teal pair fell into a comfortable, natural rhythm; the occasional verbal check-up from Luka and blissful response from Miku being the only words both parties felt needed to be exchanged, the only other sounds in the room being the rustling of the tealette's shirt under Luka's fingers, and the gasps, groans and moans that came as a result of those fingers.

Luka let things progress like this for quite some time, the minutes passing by as she kneaded away at the same few particularly effective spots. It was partly to simply get rid of the pain and tension that was plaguing the younger woman, but Luka would be lying if she denied that at this point it was mostly so she could keep the beautiful music coming from Miku; each moan growing louder and longer - and to Luka's ears, more erotic - as Miku slipped further and further into her ever more relaxed state.

Miku simply couldn't help herself, and once she got over the initial embarrassment of the first few moans; rationalising that people moaned during massages all the time, she never looked back, instead just enjoying where her boss' hands were taking her. "Nnng… that feels amazing…" She praised as the older woman worked on her now loose shoulders. "Would you mind doing my neck again, Luka?" She asked, before shyly admitting the reason for her request. "I really liked what you did before… it felt incredible."

"I'd be happy to, sweetie." She replied; genuinely glad of the request, knowing from experience that Miku was most sensitive there… which to Luka meant it was where she could get the best moans out of the younger woman. She gave her shoulders one last squeeze before placing her hands just where Miku had asked, feeling no tension whatsoever in the numerous small muscles in her neck as she started rubbing, the realisation of what that meant pleasing the taller woman to no end.

Miku was enjoying this.

And not just as a by-product of a pain relieving massage either. Luka hadn't felt any tension in her shoulders or upper back in the last few minutes, and now with her request to massage her already fully relaxed neck, the pinkette was all but certain that her teal haired employee was simply just enjoying herself now; no longer seeking pain relief, instead just indulging in the pleasure her massage brought about.

The notion alone was enough to put an excited grin on the pinkette's lips, as well as some less than professional thoughts into her head; the situation leaving her feeling… adventurous. "How's that?" She asked innocently, getting an appreciative groan from Miku in response, using the conversation as a distraction as she removed her right hand, with the left taking over the duties of both. "And… this?" She questioned as she tweaked a little known spot, this time getting a full blown and rather sultry moan from the younger woman.

Deciding that Miku was sufficiently distracted, she brought a finger up to the pale skin peeking out of the tealette's collar, before gently trailing it up the smooth expanse of the back of her neck and lightly caressing the fine little hairs she found there. In response, an intense shiver wracked Miku's smaller frame, her neck bending backwards reflexively at her feather soft touch; so much so that Luka even met with the surprised eyes of the younger woman for a moment before she let her head fall back forward. "Ara ara… my apologies Miku." She said with a mixture of sincerity and amusement at causing such a reaction.

"Haha… its fine, I just wasn't expecting that." She quickly replied with a nervous giggle as she settled back into her chair. "It… it actually felt kinda nice… so there's no need to apologise." She decided to add, albeit rather timidly. "W-would you mind going a little lower again… right around my upper back?"

Luka did just that, wordlessly answering by moving her hands to where they had been requested. "Is this okay?" She asked just to make sure, getting a silent nod from the younger woman before the string of moans resumed, and her thoughts began to wander once again. The feeling from before hadn't left her, if anything, seeing Miku's reaction just now had only made her feel more inclined to try more risky things with her employee, and given where her hands were currently massaging away at, Luka had only one thing in mind that she wanted to do.

Just as before, she decided not to give the tealette any warning, as she wanted to see the full effect that touching that same spot would have on a fully relaxed Miku. Given that it had been quite extreme when she had been tenser, Luka was expecting… and almost hoping for something even better. She kept up the cyclical motion of her hands for a few seconds longer; kneading away intently before suddenly sliding them into position and pushing both of her thumbs into the spot with a fair bit of force, holding them there for as long as she could whilst the rest of her simply awaited Miku's reaction.

Miku's back arched involuntarily, her mind going blank for a few seconds at the intensely exquisite touch. "Ahh Luka… yes…" Miku moaned lowly and lewdly, Luka's name rolling off her tongue far too naturally and easily. It was only after the bliss from the pinkette's prolonged touch had faded that the alarm bells started ringing in her head; the realisation of what she just did hitting her like a ton of bricks. She had just moaned her boss' name… and not just a little; her voice sounded so lewd, almost dripping with desire as she uttered the two syllables of the pinkette's name as if it was something she'd do every day.

Without words, Miku shot up out of her chair, panic having quickly and completely taken her over. She stood there for a second, trying to figure out if she should explain or even apologize, or if it was better to pretend it never happened… though the rapidly darkening blush on her face - and on her whole body for that matter - would make that option rather difficult to believe. Despite that, rightly or wrongly, that was exactly what the tealette decided to go with. "Th-thank you... that was… you were… it was great." She bumbled over her words, only serving to embarrass herself further as she made for the door. "B-but I really should be going now."

Luka was certainly surprised at the younger woman's outburst; the sudden change in her demeanour catching her off guard to such a degree that by the time she realised the tealette had gotten up and gone, Miku was already halfway to the door. "Are you sure?" She asked as she followed her to the door, a hint of concern in her voice; worried that she may have just overdone it a little. "I… I'm in no rush, if that's the issue?" She carried on as she caught up with her at the door, making sure to unlock it so as to not leave Miku potentially feeling trapped; a real concern to the pinkette given just how nervous Miku currently seemed to be.

Miku tried to make eye contact with the taller woman, but the mortifying memory of what just happened prevented her from doing so. "It's not that…" She started, fiddling with the hem of her skirt meekly. "The massage was great… I just…" She paused, trying to think of something other than the truth to say to her boss; it wasn't like she could just say she was leaving so abruptly because she embarrassed herself by moaning her name. "I… I have a lot of errands to do tonight… if I don't get going soon I'll miss my train, and then I'll be behind for the rest of the evening." She quickly decided to go with; whilst not being the real reason, it certainly wasn't a lie either.

The pinkette gave an accepting, slightly solemn nod in return. "No problem, I understand… sorry for keeping you for longer than necessary." She started, sounding apologetic and little saddened, but was pleasantly surprised when Miku made eye contact briefly, with a look on her face that told her not to worry about it; that action alone successfully calming her somewhat. With that, Luka opened the door for her shorter employee, holding it open just as she had done when they entered through it. "Well… you have a nice weekend, Hatsune-san."

Miku bowed shallowly before leaving her boss' office, turning to face the taller woman who had followed her out afterwards. "You too Megurine-san." She offered professionally, turning around to walk out before a last minute thought popped into her head. "And… thanks again… for… you know…" She added meekly, a relatively tame blush appearing on her cheeks as she fumbled over her words; only realising at the last second that they were back in the office, and that even mentioning the massage could arouse suspicion.

Luka smiled, giving the shorter woman a knowing nod at her cute misstep. "It was my pleasure." She replied quietly enough for just them to hear, before motioning towards the door, following the tealette just out of the glass fronted office, stopping and carefully leaning against the transparent material whilst Miku continued onwards to her desk. From her position she watched the younger woman packing up her things; seemingly moving with a little more haste than usual. It was only once she had her backpack on her shoulder and was heading out of her cubicle that the pink haired woman decided to call out to her. "Oh, and Hatsune-san?" She asked rather loudly as she gently pushed herself off the wall; her voice easily getting her employee's attention. "Please… don't hesitate to come back and see me if that problem returns, okay?"

Miku was glad the office was mostly empty now that it was 5:05, else she would have felt even more flustered and embarrassed than how she did now. "I… I…" She tried, and failed to come up with a suitable response, instead quickly opting to simply nod back at her boss in acceptance, before finally making her way over to the elevators.

The pinkette stayed in place, watching the tealette walk away with a satisfied grin playing on her lips; even something as simple as her response just then being impossible not to smile at. She waited until the younger woman had chosen her floor on the elevator, the action requiring her to face back in towards the office, and thus giving her a chance to wave goodbye to Miku with a bright smile as the doors closed, glad to see both the smile and the wave eagerly returned by her teal haired employee.

As soon as the door slid shut and Miku was no longer in view, the pinkette swiftly returned to her office, shutting and locking the door behind her before leaning with her back up against it and grinning like an idiot. "That was certainly interesting." She whispered to herself, her eyes wide in surprise and excitement as to just how well their meeting had ended up going… and at just how receptive Miku was to her already.

To Luka, it looked like the seed had definitely been planted in Miku… all she had to do now was wait and let it grow into something hopefully beautiful.

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Miku had barely even touched her food; despite having spent the best part of an hour in the kitchen preparing their meal, the tealette was simply too preoccupied with her thoughts to have much interest in the katsu curry sitting in front of her.

In the elevator, on the train ride home, and now sitting across from her blue haired boyfriend at dinner, Miku thoughts had been filled with nothing but Luka and their afternoon meeting; the pink haired woman… and her pink tipped fingers being the only things on her mind. She recalled how intense the whole thing had been; the way her hands had felt so good on her shoulders, how Luka's voice sounded as a whisper in her ear… it was all, and still was so stimulating to the tealette; making her heart beat hard even now.

"Hey, are you even listening?" A rather annoyed sounding Kaito asked as he banged his hands down on the table, startling his girlfriend out of her somewhat spaced out state. "I expect you to pay attention to me when I'm talking!"

While Miku would agree that she had been spacing out, she definitely didn't feel as if it deserved that kind of response from Kaito. "Sorry, I…." She had started reflexively, before catching herself about to apologize. She had nothing to be sorry for… sure, she hadn't been listening to another one of his boring stories about work, but she felt that wasn't justification to be shouted at like a child, and nor did she appreciate that fact either. "You know what, no." She defiantly declared as she stood up from the table. "I don't expect to be yelled at over something so small, and made to feel like a little…" She paused, not wanting to get too emotional and start an argument.

Instead, she simply walked away from both the bluenette and her half eaten meal, grabbing a thin jacket as she headed for the door. "Where do you think you're going?" Kaito called out from his still seated position.

Miku had half a mind to just walk out and not say a thing, but she soon decided that it would be in her best interests not to. "I need to take a walk." She stated plainly as she slipped on her shoes.

Kaito finally stood up, making his way over to his girlfriend after finally realising that she was serious, and that he may have messed up. "I… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted." He apologised, getting an accepting, but still nowhere near pleased look from the tealette. "What about your food, it'll go cold."

Miku sighed, the idea of just staying crossing her mind for a second, but she then realised it wasn't just Kaito that had prompted this. "I'm not hungry." She said fairly truthfully, standing up and opening the door, before looking back at the blue haired man briefly. "I won't be long, I just… I just need to relax and clear my mind for a bit." She admitted, promptly leaving before Kaito had a chance to say any more.

She set a brisk pace from the get go, putting some distance between the house and herself for a minute or two before finally arriving at a crossing, the mandatory pause giving her a few moments to think.

Kaito had annoyed her, that was fairly evident, but if anything the tealette had almost just used the small altercation as an excuse to get out of the house. While things like that had happened many times before, and they had even bothered and annoyed her much more than just now, Miku had never just walked out like that… it simply wasn't in her nature. It took her a second, but it soon became apparent that while this was partly to get away from Kaito for a bit, it was seemingly mostly so she could try and process what happened with Luka some more. Her out of character behaviour primarily came from the need for a bit more time to herself to try and better understand the situation she found herself in with her pink haired boss… seeing as only just a few minutes after the event, Miku was hardly even thinking about what happened with Kaito anymore; instead thoughts of Luka… the massage… and her interesting, and rapidly developing relationship with the older woman being the only things on her mind again in no time.

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 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, back again with a new (albeit slightly shorter) chapter, and it's actually on time for once.**

 **Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the previous chapter; your comments are greatly appreciated; reading your reactions to the story is what keeps me writing… so thanks again.**

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and thanks for reading.**

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Chapter 4 (Saturday 18th August 2018)

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Miku checked the clock on the wall in front of her impatiently; its face reading fifty-five minutes to two just as it had done twenty second ago. "She's normally early…" She whispered to herself, the noise just barely catching the attention of the blue haired man sitting beside her, prompting her to explain herself. Though, just as she was about to open her mouth to reiterate her thoughts, the doorbell rang and signalled the arrival of her much anticipated guest. "She's here!" The tealette exclaimed rather excitedly as she hopped off of the couch and made her way for the door, wasting no time as she hastily unlocked it and pulled it open, revealing the green haired young woman standing on their doorstep.

"Gumi!" She practically squealed at the sight of her best friend; the greenette looking as effortlessly cool in her appearance as always. "Come here you." She commanded playfully as she threw her arms open, inviting the ever so slightly taller woman into both her home, and into an incredibly warm hug.

The greenette didn't hesitate for a second, stepping through the doorway and in to her best friend's arms in single, swift motion. "Miku…" She called out just as enthusiastically as she wrapped her arms around the tealette, pulling her into a tight embrace. "It's so good to finally see you again. How are you?"

Miku hugged her green haired friend back just as forcefully; slightly concerned that she might even leave a few bruises given how tightly she was holding. "I'm good… great actually." She corrected herself, giving Gumi one last big squeeze before pulling back. "And you? How've you been?"

"I've been doing fine; I got promoted at work… though that was like a month ago at this point." She started, thinking to herself that something that old shouldn't have been news, at least not with her best friend of so many years. "God… it feels like I haven't seen you in ages. How long has it…" She began to ask, but the arrival of Miku's blue haired boyfriend from the living room stopped her mid-sentence.

"Oh… its you." Gumi offered rudely; the disgusted sounding greeting being about as polite as she could manage with this particular person. "Even now, you can't help but want to get between me and Miku, huh?"

Kaito just laughed at the greenette's somewhat immature behaviour as he slowly walked closer to the pair of women. "Well, it is my house, so if anything you're the one getting between me and Miku… consider yourself lucky that I even tolerate you being here." He retorted snidely, a smug grin playing on his lips. "And besides, back in the day, Miku chose to hang out with me over you all by herself… and it's pretty obvious why, huh?"

Gumi's brow furrowed in frustration and anger; Kaito's comment having easily pushed some rather sensitive and well known about buttons of hers. "Why you little…" She started as she stomped over to the blue haired man, her fists balling up reflexively. "I'll teach you to talk to me like that!"

But, before any more words… and certainly any punches could be exchanged between the bickering green and blue pair, the tealette stepped in to try and defuse the situation; physically coming between the man she loved and the best friend she couldn't live without, using her body as a barrier to stop things before they turned ugly. "Hey, please don't argue so much." She implored with the greenette, placing her hands on her shoulders in an effort to both calm her down, and gain her attention away from the bluenette behind her. "For me… please?"

Gumi conceded, nodding softly at her friend's pleading words and concerned facial expression, letting out a small sigh as she tried her best to calm down. Though the change in body language didn't go unnoticed by Kaito, who felt that despite only doing this for Miku, Gumi had in some way personally conceded to him as well. "That's right, do as you're…" He began, but was swiftly silenced by his teal haired girlfriend.

"That's enough out of you." Miku practically barked as she span around 180, now facing the taller man with a disapproving look on her face. "I know you two don't get along, but you could at least try to bite your tongue, if only just for me." She half pointed out, half asked, getting a half-hearted apologetic look from the bluenette as he just stood there in silence. "Thank you. Now, don't you have plans this afternoon?" She asked unintentionally sternly; her tone still carrying hints of anger from a moment ago.

Kaito shrugged, feeling a bit defeated after Miku's little outburst. "I do, but not for another twenty minutes." He replied very matter of factly, but the sight of Gumi still standing behind his girlfriend quickly made him reconsider his schedule. "But, seeing as the weather is so nice I might as well head off early." He announced, before moving towards the door and slipping on his shoes, pausing for a moment before finally deciding that he simply couldn't resist one last remark before he left. "Plus, the sooner I see the back of her the better."

Gumi hadn't even bothered to turn to face Kaito when he had walked by, and so was still facing the tealette when he stupidly opened his mouth once again. She gave the slightly shorter woman a wanting look; silently asking for permission to retort, wanting nothing more than to put that blue haired fool in his place. But, after getting a small shake of her head, and a pleading look of her own from Miku, the greenette just closed her eyes in frustration, just about managing to suppress her annoyance long enough for the teal and blue couple to say their goodbyes. It was only when she heard the sound of the door shutting behind her that Gumi knew she could finally relax.

"Sorry about him." Miku offered apologetically, motioning towards the living room. "But I'm gonna have to pin some of the blame on you this time." She started, getting a confused expression from Gumi; the greenette looking at her over her shoulder as they passed through the open doorway. "I know it would be a long shot to ask for a polite greeting, but if you had just kept it civil, or better yet, said nothing at all, then he wouldn't have had anything to come back at you with." She pointed out as the arrived at the sofa, giving the still slightly seething greenette a soft smile. "And if he had said anything unprovoked, then only he would have been in the wrong and I would've had no problem in only defending you." She continued, before gently lowering herself onto the sofa. "All I'm saying is… if you could just watch your attitude around him a bit more, then it would make things easier for everyone."

Gumi nodded acceptingly, before unceremoniously plopping down onto the sofa next to the tealette. "Sorry, Miku. It's just… you know how much I ha… how little I like him." She changed her mind mid-sentence; choosing her words a bit more carefully so as to not offend her teal haired friend. "I'll try… for you."

"Thank you." She offered back sincerely, before quickly deciding that the tone of the situation needed lightening a little. "And how could I not know, you two are practically mortal enemies." She joked as she scooted up closer to the greenette. "Are you still sore that I spent a lot of our second year of high school with him?" She playfully teased - knowing full well that was indeed one of the main reasons Gumi disliked her boyfriend - getting nothing but stubborn silence and a pout from the greenette in response. "You know, you could have joined us back then… they weren't dates back in the day; we were just hanging out."

"Yes, but I didn't want to be anywhere near him. The only thing me and that man have in common is that we both hated the other from the start." She replied in a passionate outburst, before deciding that she would at least address Miku earlier question. "And yes, I guess I am still a little sore about that." She conceded, looking down for a moment out of embarrassment. "And even though I got you back to myself for the last year after he left, I feel like I've seen you less and less often since high school." Gumi said a tad glumly, meeting her friend's gaze before she spoke again. "I didn't get to see you all that much whilst you were in college, but it was even less often once you started dating that idiot. It… it feels like he stole you away from me all over again." She admitted, her words visibly saddening the tealette beside her. "I see you less and less these days, and it's all because of him."

"It's not completely his fault." Miku started in an attempt to defend the bluenette. "Sure, Kaito is partly to blame, but life gets in the way, you know? Especially now were both adults." She tried to explain, getting a less than impressed look from Gumi in return. "Like with my new job; that's sure to get in the way of us seeing each other as often."

"I'm fine with that." The greenette exclaimed as she shuffled a little closer to Miku. "Just like when you were in college… I'm happy for you to choose something important like your job or education over me, but what about this last year; since you started dating Kaito?" She questioned, the tealette breaking eye contact and looking down at the hands nervously playing in her lap; Miku knowing exactly what was coming from the greenette… knowing just how right Gumi was about to be. "We used to see each other a couple times a week, but now it's like once a month." She pointed out, before trying to remember the last time she even saw her best friend. "Hell, wasn't the last time we saw each other in June; on my birthday?"

Miku took a second to think back, quickly concluding that it had indeed been over seven weeks since she last saw her green haired friend. "You're right…" She agreed, her voice sounding slightly disbelieving that it had been so long. "I'm so sorry Gumi." She apologised in a hushed, defeated tone; feeling as though she had truly let her best friend down.

The tealette's solemn reaction led Gumi to believe that she might have been a bit too loud and over the top, prompting her to scoot over further so she could put a reassuring arm around Miku's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry… you don't have anything to be sorry for." She knowingly stated, gaining the other woman's attention. "It's not you is it… its him, right?"

Miku nodded, looking up at the greenette with a slightly guilty expression… Gumi had always been able to see through her so easily. "Kaito, he… he isn't fond of you coming over, but he also doesn't like me going to see you; which obviously makes things difficult." She admitted, Gumi's brow furrowing in annoyance at her words. "When it's you, I really have to convince him to let me see you, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me going out in general… even though he can go out whenever he wants." She continued, grumbling the last part more to herself than to the other woman.

Gumi squeezed the tealette tighter with the arm still draped across her shoulders. "You shouldn't let yourself be bossed around by him… he doesn't control you, Miku." She offered encouragingly, before deciding to have another go at the same point she made every time she saw the tealette, bracing herself slightly as she knew that what she was about to say next could be rather confrontational. "He isn't right for you Miku."

The tealette turned towards her friend, shrugging off her arm as a defensive look quickly formed on her face. "We love each other Gumi… apart from a few little things here and there; things are going fine between us."

The green haired woman sighed in defeat; she knew she would get a response like that; Miku's words practically identical to the last time this topic came up between them. All Gumi wished for was that her best friend could see what she saw; or more accurately, simply allow herself to. "Just fine?" She asked tentatively, getting a confused look from the tealette at her question, prompting her to elaborate. "I don't know about you, but it shouldn't just be fine. Love should be amazing… it should be exciting and joyous; the best feeling in the world… and it should be anything but fine, Miku."

Miku couldn't argue with that; she had indeed always wished for that perfect fairy-tale love when she was younger. "I know, Gumi." She partially agreed. "But it's not like things couldn't get better. Every relationship has its problems… people are complicated, especially when you put two of them together; there's bound to be a few teething pains for a while." She calmly argued her side of things, trying to be more realistic compared to the greenette's more fanciful view of love. "Besides, love like that is pretty rare, especially nowadays… it's practically a myth. I… I think I'm happy enough with a more mundane life anyways; just settling down."

"And that's perfectly fine, but maybe you shouldn't be settling down with the first person that came along and told you they loved you." She countered, pausing for a moment to replace the arm Miku had shrugged off, bringing her friend in closer in the process. "You're still so young, and yet here you are with your first boyfriend, already living together, already claiming to be in love… it all just seems to be a little rushed to me." She went on, glad not to hear any more protests from the tealette. "I know we don't all get to be with our soulmates and have a fairy-tale ending like you said, but with you and Kaito… it feels like your relationship isn't a perfect fit, and you… specifically you for the most part, are having to work extra hard to try and force it to fit together."

Miku could see where she was coming from. Their relationship certainly wasn't perfect, nor was the balance between them equal… but what else could she really hope for? There had been points in her life when she was sure she would never get a boyfriend; as her lack of self-confidence, less than popular interests, and just plain shyness had always made dating difficult for her; often to the point of dissuading her from even trying at all.

But here she was, living together with Kaito; a man who she felt was out of her league in terms of looks, who had a great job and excellent future career prospects, but most importantly; who also loved her back… it would be greedy to ask for more, wouldn't it? Miku certainly thought so; she had found love after years of uncertainty, and whilst it wasn't perfect, it was certainly better than nothing. For all she knew, leaving Kaito for someone else could have her end up with someone much worse, though that was if she could even find love again in the first place.

The greenette noticed that Miku hadn't said anything in quite a while; her teal haired friend seemingly deep in what appeared to be rather difficult and troubling thoughts, and the notion that it was her that had put Miku in this state left Gumi feeling rather guilty. "I'm sorry, Miku. I shouldn't be telling you how to live your life." She apologised softly, successfully breaking the tealette out of her thoughts, thankful to see a look on the other woman's face that told her not to worry. "I just think you could do so much better than Kaito, I just… I just wish you had more faith in yourself." She explained gently, getting a small smile from the tealette. "I just want you to happy Mi-chan."

Miku had to hold back a tear; even though it could seem like the greenette was being a little rude, harsh or even insensitive at times, Gumi really only had her best interests in mind; and it was that fact that left the tealette feeling more than a little emotional; glad that she always had her bestie to rely on even after everything they had been through. "Th-thank you, Gumi bear." She whispered before turning at the waist and wrapping her arms around her green haired friend, giving her a brief, but heartfelt hug.

Gumi gladly hugged back; holding on to her friend tightly for a few quiet moments as she tried to wordlessly convey her emotions through their embrace. "Don't mention it." She whispered as she gradually pulled away, searching the tealette's eyes for a second to make sure everything was fine between them. "Anyways…" She started, drawing out her word goofily as she slouched back into the sofa, glad to see that her normal behaviour had brought back the smile to her friend's lips. "Why are we even talking about that idiot so much? I've spoken more about him in the last five minutes than I'd care to in a year… let's talk about you instead." She light-heartedly and jokingly rambled, the mood practically brightening with every word she spoke. "What was my little Mi-chan's first week at work like?"

Miku's smile grew uncontrollably; partly at the use of Gumi's school nickname for her, but mostly just because it always did when she was with her best friend. Whether they were out doing something or just hanging out and spending the afternoon chatting like they were about to, Miku always felt happy and comfortable around the greenette; more so than with anyone else. "It was pretty unbelievable actually." She replied honestly as she recalled the week's events; especially those that featured a certain pink haired woman. "Where should I start?"

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Afternoon had become early evening; the sun's noticeably lower position in the sky, along with the half dozen empty tea cups on the coffee table both alluding to the hours that had passed between the two women. They were both still sitting in their respective seats, albeit in a much more casual manner than they were before; Gumi having her legs tucked up on to the cushion but off to the side of her, and Miku practically standing on her knees as she enthusiastically recounted all of the little details of her first five days at Crypton photography.

It made for quite the amusing sight to the greenette. Miku could be fairly talkative when it was just the two of them, but Gumi was always the one who did the majority of the talking; partly down to the fact that she was a bit of a chatterbox herself, but also because the tealette was quite the reserved person even with her friends, not to mention the fact that she was also a great listener. So, for Miku to have spoken for about 80% of their afternoon, when she wouldn't normally have breached 30%, was quite the interesting change in dynamic to Gumi… though not nearly as interesting as what her teal haired friend had been talking about for the best part of the afternoon.

"I could hardly believe it when she told me she'd been a photographer; she was already perfect as a manager that it hadn't even occurred to me that she would've been anything else before." Miku praised, sipping at the fourth cup of tea of the afternoon that she held in her hands. "Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier…" Miku rambled on rapidly; her enthusiastic words stretching the already wide smile on her friend's face. "Before I even knew Luka was my boss I had seen her walking around the office, and the first thing I thought was that she had to have been a model… I swear, she looked more beautiful and more elegant than any model you'd ever seen." She declared as she thought back to her first encounter with the pinkette. "Long legs, long pink hair, an outfit that was professional and classy, yet still managed to highlight all the right places… I wish I had a picture of her to show you so you could get a better idea of her."

The tealette paused once again; her unusually dry throat prompting her to have another sip of tea. It was only in the brief break in conversation - as the warm liquid worked its soothing magic on its way down - that Miku noticed the grinning greenette across from her. "What's so funny?" She asked with genuine curiosity, struggling to remember what she had just said that would have caused such a reaction from Gumi.

The greenette's smile grew even wider once she was caught; finding it funny that Miku didn't get what was amusing her. "Oh… nothing…" She offered a little mysteriously, piquing the other woman's attention further.

"No, really…" Miku started seriously, leaning over and setting the still half full mug down on the table, before returning back to a more comfortable seating position and giving the greenette her full attention. "What's with the smile?"

Gumi gave her friend a questioning look, but after getting nothing but a blank, albeit mildly confused one in return, she finally decided to explain herself. "Your boss, this… Luka?" She began, the pink haired woman's name catching Miku's attention instantly. "You… like her, don't you?"

While she could infer a few different things from just the words alone, it was both the tone that greenette had used, as well as the facial expression she was currently wearing that made it painfully obvious to Miku just which 'like' she was referring to. "No, of course not." She reflexively replied, the words leaving her lips before her brain even had time to process them. "She's just… I just… really admire her, you know?" She offered in response, trying to down play the situation now that she had had a second to think about what Gumi had just said; the implication of the greenette's words just now bringing a faint blush to her cheeks.

Gumi couldn't help but giggle at her best friend's reaction. "C'mon Miku, I know you better than anyone, you can't fool me." She began ever so slightly teasingly, trying to meet with the tealette's now averted eyes. "You're acting just the same as you did back in high school; anytime you had a crush on a boy… hell, even if one just waved or flashed you a smile and you ended up thinking they liked you back, you were just like you had been these last couple hours." She explained, her more rational words bringing Miku's gaze up to hers. "You would go on and on, rambling on constantly like you just did with this Luka… though if anything, this was more prolonged and enthusiastic than any time before that I can remember."

As Miku listened to her friend's words it was clear that Gumi had caught her red handed, but what stuck out to the tealette more than that was that after having it explained in that way by the greenette, Miku had finally caught herself too. She hadn't come to any meaningful conclusion yesterday; not during, or after her little walk. But having Gumi's outside perspective; hearing her take on things was unexpectedly enlightening; allowing her to rethink her situation once more.

What she felt towards Luka… was it really only admiration and respect, or was it more than that… did she actually feel something for her boss?

Luka was undoubtedly an incredibly nice person than was easy to get along with; so much so that the idea of them hanging out and spending time together outside of work definitely held some appeal to the teal haired young woman; the prospect of having an older and more mature woman like Luka as a friend was certainly interesting to Miku. Then on top of all that, Luka was undeniably beautiful too; she was sure not a single person could say otherwise… even Miku herself would be lying if she denied that the pinkette's appearance was at least somewhat appealing to her, despite being straight herself.

Maybe she did like Luka. Thinking about it now… it was all starting to make sense to the tealette. The way her heart raced whenever her boss would get close, the fact that all she could think about nowadays was the pinkette, whether at work or at home… hell, just the way she talked for an hour straight about the older woman to her best friend this afternoon… it really did look like she had a thing for her boss; Gumi's input finally having crystallised the confusing mess of thoughts and feelings she had accumulated over the past week into a tangible answer to the question she had been asking herself.

"I… I don't know, I… I think I might like her." She revealed with a hint of uncertainty, though even that was quickly fizzling away as more and more things started fitting into place in her mind; rapidly clearing the previously foggy picture. "I… I might have a small crush on my boss." She admitted, surprising both herself and the greenette beside her; Gumi's fairly shocked reaction immediately grabbing her attention; the need to downplay the situation quickly becoming the most important thing on Miku's mind. "B-but it's nothing, it'll pass… I'm sure of it." She stated less than confidently, her words somewhat undermined by what she said next. "And it's not like I can do anything about it as I'm with Kaito. Besides, someone like Luka is guaranteed to be taken already, and even if she wasn't, it isn't likely that she would also be gay… so nothing will come of it anyway."

"I'm not so sure, Miku." The greenette interjected, her memory of Miku's accounts of the pinkette's behaviour somewhat contradicting what the tealette had just said. "After everything you told me this afternoon, it does kinda sound like she's flirting with you… maybe she's interested back?" She half stated, half asked, getting a look of disbelief from Miku in return. "It's not out of the question. Think about it Miku… do most bosses ask to use first names when you're alone with them right of the bat? Do most bosses compliment their employee's looks and - by the sounds of things - constantly find any excuse to touch or be close to them?" She asked seriously, but as she saw that the tealette was still unconvinced, she decided to bring up the point that no sane person could refuse. "Bosses don't usually give their new employees massages in private, do they Miku?

Gumi definitely had a point. "I… I guess you could be right… it… it would help to explain the way she is around me." She agreed, earning a triumphant smile from the greenette. "But even if she does feel something towards me, it'll still be fine… nothing will happen between us whilst I'm with Kaito… it wouldn't be fair on him."

Even though she hated Kaito, the greenette still shared Miku's thoughts… while he was annoying and insufferable; Gumi still felt that it didn't mean he deserved to be cheated on. "Good…" She offered reassuringly. Whilst she held a small amount of concern for the bluenette, Gumi mostly only cared about her best friend's wellbeing; she didn't want things to get difficult for Miku down the line; which was why she choose to provide some words of warning now before Miku did anything she might regret. "Just be careful, Miku. Try to ignore whatever it is you feel for your boss… if you do that then I'm sure this little crush will pass soon enough." She advised, getting an understanding and accepting nod from the tealette. "And if she likes you like I think she does... well, then you need to be extra careful." She warned, her serious tone catching Miku's attention. "Don't get suckered in down the rabbit hole if there is one… that could quickly become a slippery slope and you could find yourself unable to come back out if you venture down too far."

Miku nodded again, wanting to make sure the greenette could see she had gotten the message. "I'll try my best… the sooner these feelings blow over, the better." She offered reassuringly, getting a soft smile from her best friend in return. "And thanks for helping me figure that out; it feels good just to know where I stand now, rather than being all confused like I was." She added, letting out a sigh of relief. It really was a weight off her shoulders to have figured all that out, even if she did now have to worry about both the prospect of Luka liking her in return, as well as if ignoring what she felt for her boss would make it go away... though that was if it was even possible to ignore it in the first place.

"I'll stick to your advice and…" Miku began, but the sound of the front door being unlocked stopped her instantly; she knew from the specific sound that it was Kaito returning home, and given what they had just been discussing, the tealette instinctively silenced herself in fear of him hearing their conversation. "Gumi!" She whispered, before giving her friend a look that asked her to keep their conversation just between them, getting a nod and look in return from the greenette, one that questioned the tealette as to why she even needed to ask such an obvious thing in the first place.

Green and teal hurriedly grabbed their respective cups and did their best to act natural before Kaito showed up; Gumi quickly starting to talk about her own job so their silence didn't seem suspicious. She only got a sentence of the way through her story though before the bluenette arrived at the living room doorway. "Hey sweetie… ugh, she's still here." He had started pleasantly, though the sight of the greenette instantly changed his demeanour to one not so dissimilar from earlier. "I thought she would've been gone by now."

Gumi gave the tealette an incredulous look at her boyfriend's behaviour, before turning to face the man in question. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but after what Miku had said earlier, the greenette felt it would be best to hold her tongue, if only just for Miku's sake. "I would have stayed longer… but if you're back now, then I best be going." She answered for the pair of them, her voice sounding polite for the most part, though she simply couldn't contain the small hint of anger that had slipped its way into her words.

Not wanting to deal with his unimpressed look any longer, Gumi stood up and quickly made her way to the front door. "Well… it was really nice seeing you again, Miku." Gumi started as she slipped on her shoes, her gaze fixed on the tealette who had followed her out in to the hallway, making sure to ignore Kaito who insisted on watching over them from the doorway. "It's a shame we didn't get as much time to talk as we would have wanted, so why don't you come to my place next time?" She suggested, getting a hopeful nod from her best friend as she looked back to the rather unimpressed looking bluenette; his expression effortlessly letting both women know that he was against such an idea; the wordless exchange of looks between the three of them irking the greenette considerably. "You know what… I insist, I won't take no for an answer." She boldly claimed as she focused on the blue haired man; staring at him with thinly veiled annoyance.

Miku felt as if she could cut the tension with a knife; the exchange between her best friend and her boyfriend making her more uncomfortable with every passing second. But, just as she was about to side with Kaito and tell Gumi that it wouldn't be possible, the bluenette suddenly relented. "Fine… but don't make this a regular thing." He grumbled with frustration, his words pleasing the greenette and completely surprising Miku; it was rather rare for him to back down like that.

"Thank you, Kaito." Miku offered appreciatively, earning an indifferent shrug from the bluenette before he looked away in an almost sulking manner. "Looks like I'll be coming over to yours next time then." She exclaimed, still sounding a little disbelieving as she made her way over to the greenette, the slightly taller woman now having stood back up after lacing up her shoes. "When are you free… oh wait, are you free the Friday after next? I could come to yours after work and we could do something together for my birthday?" Miku suggested hopefully, though her optimistic smile soon crumbled when she saw the other woman shaking her head, Gumi's apologetic expression saying it all for the tealette.

"I'd love to Miku, I really would…" Gumi started, stepping in closer to the tealette and placing a hand on her shoulder. "But I have a business trip that weekend, and we're leaving at midday on Friday; all so we can travel halfway across the country for some stupid seminar… and it would of course have to coincide with you birthday of all things." She explained, getting an understanding, but still no less saddened nod from the other woman. "I've been trying to get out of it myself, but because I skipped the last one I have to go this time or else I could lose my job." She went on, lifting her friend's chin up with her free hand so she could meet with her eyes. "But I could do the weekend after… I know it's not the same, but maybe we could do something then as a late celebration?"

While it wasn't exactly what she had hoped for, Miku was at least thankful that they would have some time together at all… and it did at least mean that her birthday was free for her and Kaito to potentially have plans. "It's okay Gumi, that still sounds great." She replied appreciatively, before opening her arms up for a goodbye hug, the greenette latching on to her in an instant. "I already can't wait." She added in a whisper, squeezing her best friend tight for a few moments before they mutually let go. "I guess I'll see you on… the 8th then." She paused for a second as she figured out the dates in her head quickly.

With that, they exchanged a few more goodbyes, and after following Gumi out to the end of the front garden, Miku eventually returned and shut the door behind her, the blue haired man waiting for her with a question. "Hey, do you fancy going out for dinner tonight?" Kaito begun, pushing himself off of the wall he had been leaning on and making his way over to the tealette. "We could go to that place you like? My treat after your first week at work… whaddya say?"

Miku had been half expecting this, though it didn't make it any less appreciated. Kaito would always make an extra effort after she had spent time with Gumi; and whilst she wasn't a hundred percent sure just as to why he did it, Miku guessed that it was because he wanted to re-establish himself as the most important person in her life, as well as try to disprove all of the negative things the greenette was sure to have said about him. "I'd love that." She replied gleefully; glad of not only a night off from cooking and the promise of some incredible food tonight, but also at the prospect of spending an evening with the man she loved… especially as their dates had become less and less frequent in recent months. "Thank you honey." She added softly as she moved in to cuddle the considerably taller man, resting the side of her head on his chest as he loosely wrapped his arms around her slim form.

Miku let herself relax into the embrace; his warmth, the faint smell of his cologne, and the feeling of his arms around her all helping her to chill out after a long week. Though, what was most noticeable was the absence of her confused and clouded thoughts… thanks to Gumi, she now had a much clearer mind. And while she did now have something more defined to worry about, not having to try and constantly figure it all out was certainly a relief… just having a bit of internal peace and quiet was a luxury she had rather sorely missed over these last few days.

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 **Apologies for the lack of any real negitoro content in this chapter, hopefully it was still enjoyable enough without it as there will probably be a chapter like this so often.**

 **If you have the time, I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter; your feedback is greatly appreciated as always.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone, finally back with a new chapter.**

 **I apologize for the long delay; I had every intention of sticking to my one chapter a month schedule, but some more family issues last month really put me off writing for a while. I have also been doing a lot of overtime at work this last month, and then for the last week or so I've been pretty ill; all of which took away from the time I had to write. So I might just forget about a schedule and just try to update when I can, as it seems that any time I try to plan ahead, something always comes up to delay things.**

 **Either way, thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, I love reading what you all have to say, and just wanted to say thanks for the supportive and insightful comments.**

 **I also wanted to ask what people's opinions were on the odd Japanese word/phrase being used here and there. Do you mind seeing it or would prefer I refrained from using it?**

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the rather long chapter, thanks for being patient and thanks for reading.**

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Thursday 23rd August 2018

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"Yours sincerely, Hatsune Miku." Miku murmured to herself as she typed out those very same words, bringing the email she had just been composing to a professional sounding end. "Alright, time for the next one…" She began internally, her hand having already moved the mouse halfway across the screen before she was rudely interrupted; and for the third time in the last ten minutes no less.

Though the culprit was not a fellow member of staff… instead, the offending noise came from her stomach. After a series of progressively louder and lengthier complaints from her empty belly, the tealette was eventually forced to pay attention to her neglected stomach after an embarrassingly loud rumble emanated from her midsection. "Still half an hour left…" She said to herself after checking the clock; a little disappointed that she still had a good chunk of time left until her lunch break slot came around.

"I guess these will have to do in the meantime…" She thought to herself as she reached out to the small pink box sitting on her desk, slender fingers retrieving a single strawberry flavoured pocky from the foil bag within. "It shouldn't hurt to have a little break now; you're already almost at your quota for the day." Miku gave herself a little pep-talk internally as she checked her surroundings, soon concluding that as half the office were currently on their lunch breaks, the risk of being caught slacking was greatly reduced.

Still, with a hint of reluctance the tealette leaned back in her chair, taking on a more relaxed posture as she brought the sakura pink treat up to her lips. Though whilst she'd had every intention of eating the delicious snack to ease her complaining stomach, it instead rested motionless on her bottom lip as her eyes glazed over in thought. She hadn't really thought about it when she picked them up at the 7-eleven this morning, but now that she had a moment to rest for the first time today, the sight of the familiar pink colour of the pocky gripped between her fingers couldn't help but remind Miku of a certain pink haired someone. "Lu…ka…"

Miku shook her head in embarrassment as she heard herself breathlessly whisper her boss's name, quickly taking a bite of the biscuit stick as her cheeks turned a colour to match it. "Baka!" She chastised herself in a short, sharp whisper, nervously looking around to see if anyone might have heard her little slip up… it would be quite the difficult situation to explain her way out of if someone found out about her little secret because of such a simple mistake.

After having a few full days at work to reflect on what she and Gumi had concluded on Saturday, Miku couldn't help but think that they had been both right and wrong at the same time.

The one thing they had definitely gotten right was that she had a crush on Luka… without a shadow of a doubt. She had half expected, and half hoped to be wrong about their conclusion, but after seeing Luka again early on Monday morning, it soon became clear to the tealette that they had been spot on back on Saturday.

During her first week she had often thought about the pinkette, but since realising her feelings towards the older woman, Miku had been entirely unable to get Luka off of her mind. It didn't help that she was her boss; that simple fact meaning that she was always around the office, though now Miku found she noticed the pink haired woman more than ever. Be it her clothes, the small differences in the way she wore her hair from day to day, or even just what type of snack she was eating during break time, the tealette was acutely more aware of everything that had to do with her boss. Sometimes, without even realising it, she would track Luka with her eyes as she made her way around the main office, even going so far as to lean or sit up in her chair to get a better view of the pink haired beauty as she walked by.

Hell, even just the sound of her voice would effortlessly grab her attention, and whether it was halfway across the office or a mere few inches from her ear, it would always succeed in making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in response. And it was that, her increased awareness of the older woman, and a dozen other little things that let Miku know she was crushing on her boss… undeniably so.

Though, whilst she could fully accept that Gumi had been right about her crush, Miku couldn't help but feel that her green haired friend might have misinterpreted her accounts of her first week as Luka being interested in her in return.

Now that she was even more aware of the pinkette, it would seem that was no longer the case. For one, the notion that she was perhaps Luka's favourite - based on the fact that she would always rush to her aid when she called out for help - had since been disproved somewhat. As she now paid more attention to the pinkette's routine and actions around the office, Miku could now see that it no longer appeared to be the case; Luka would make a concerted effort to assist anyone who called out, not just with her as she had thought last week… it was just that she had been too focused on her own interactions with her boss to really see the bigger picture back then.

If anything, the number of encounters with the older woman had decreased from last week. After a team briefing of their new tasks for the week, they each had a short one on one chat with pinkette, but since then, Miku felt like she hadn't really spoken with the pinkette all that much. Granted, part of that was because she hadn't really needed to call out for help; as even with the new tasks, she was already a natural. But Luka would often come around and check-up on the new employees anyway; just to make sure everything was going well… but even those seemed to be few and far between for her. "Maybe she thinks I don't need checking up on?" Miku asked herself as she span a quarter-circle back and forth in her chair, the half-eaten pocky once again resting on her lip as her thoughts prevented her doing much else. "Maybe she can see I'm doing well and doesn't want to imply that I need any help?"

Whatever the reason, the younger woman couldn't help but feel a little left out. All around her, Luka would routinely visit the now only four other new members of staff throughout the day, whereas she might only receive one or two quick visits from the pinkette per day.

In addition, Luka hadn't even mentioned the massage again. After her comment and the look she gave her on Friday afternoon, Miku had been fully expecting her boss to bring it up again, which certainly would have solidified the idea that Luka was interested in her. But instead it was almost as if it didn't happen, which lead Miku to believe that it was just simply a concerned boss helping out her employee, albeit in a slightly out of the ordinary manner.

With all that evidence against her, Miku had decided that she and Gumi had been wrong on Saturday. It really did just seem like Luka was a people person, and an overly touchy feely one at that; and that all of their interactions that had lead her think that way in the first place, were in fact not unique to her at all; instead just the way her boss would act with anyone. If anything, Miku felt that she might have even wanted Gumi's words to be true just a little, especially considering she was crushing on Luka herself; whilst it would be difficult if it was the case, it would still feel good in some weird little way to know that her feelings were reciprocated.

"Tchh, she wouldn't feel that way… especially not about me." Miku grumbled to herself under her breath, her tone sounding rather defeated. "I can hardly believe I thought we were right." She added in a thought, quickly settling on the likely answer that both her and the greenette had simply overthought the matter, resulting in them coming to a conclusion that sounded good on the surface, but was in fact flawed deep down. "Luka… having feelings for me… not a chance." She added internally, before finishing off the pink treat still between her fingers, letting out a sigh as she sat back up straight. "Still, it's probably for the best… if she liked me back then…"

Miku had begun to think, but the sound of the elevator jogged her from her thoughts. "Who could that be…?" She whispered to herself as she checked the time once more just to be sure. "That can't be Lily and the others back from lunch yet; it's way too early for that." She figured to herself, before her curiosity got the better of her. She pushed herself up in her seat until she could just peer over the edge of the low cubicle walls; not wanting to stand up fully in fear of being caught not working. "Looks like a delivery." The tealette said to herself after seeing the driver of a popular shipping company standing in front of the elevator doors; the slightly overweight middle-aged man fiddling with the electronic tracking device in his hand. "I'll let someone else get that." She jokingly muttered under her breath as she slid back down in her chair; the idea of having to deal with a complete stranger not exactly appealing to the teal haired woman.

Though, without even realising it himself, the delivery driver seemed to have different plans for Miku. "I've got a package here for a Miss Hatsune." He called out into the half empty office, getting no response from the woman in question. "Package here for a Hatsune, first initial M…!" He reiterated, his voice considerably louder this time around.

After a small panic, Miku soon composed herself. Her old self was still very much present; the shy and nervous woman she had been up until a week ago still the main part of her personality. But after almost two weeks of work, each day of which was filled with new people and new experiences, the beginnings of a more confident and composed Miku were starting to form; and better yet, were starting to have an impact on the way she lived her life. Previously, Miku would have found someone else she already knew and trusted to sort this out for her, even in a situation like this where it was directly focused on her, Miku will still hide behind Kaito, Gumi, or one of her other few close friends for protection. But now, even though she was still justifiably nervous, Miku had managed to find the confidence to call out after only a few seconds of nervous panicking. "Hai, that's me!"

She watched the delivery guy from her now standing position, following him with her eyes as he wheeled the box he was delivering towards her on a lifting dolly, reaching her cubicle in no time with his brisk pace. "Sign here." He instructed as he handed the tealette his device, his tone rather sharp and to the point.

"N-no problem." Miku replied with a little stutter as she took the touchscreen and tethered stylus from the man. "I honestly wasn't expecting a package, let alone one this big." She tried to make small talk with rather impatient looking man, her hands idling as she tried her best to actively engage for once. "I don't suppose you know what it is…?"

Miku had begun, but was rudely interrupted by the grouchy looking man not long after she had started. "Listen lady, I don't have time for chit chat; I've got a quota to meet." He practically barked as he checked his watch, groaning in frustration at what it displayed. "If you could just hurry this up, then we can all get on with our day."

Miku looked down as her face turned red, partly from the embarrassment of being ignored and then shouted at after putting herself out there for once, and partly from the anger she felt building up inside herself at this man's needlessly rude behaviour. "Fine… geez." Miku grumbled as she quickly scribbled in the digital box, the device hastily snatched away by the delivery driver not long after.

Without another word, much less a thank you, the impatient man unstrapped the box from the dolly, and slid it out from underneath it, leaving the cardboard monolith standing tall in the centre of her cubicle before swiftly making his way back to the elevator. "Hey, aren't you going to help me with…" Miku had started to call out, but it soon became clear that he had no intention of helping whatsoever; the man was clearly too focused on his own job to care, especially now that he had signed over the package to the tealette; it simply wasn't his business anymore. "What a jerk…" She mumbled to herself before refocusing on the large box. "What am I supposed to do with this then?" She asked herself, slowly walking around the package in confusion.

Luckily for the tealette, a certain redhead arrived at the entrance to Miku's cubicle not long after the man left. "What was that all about?" She asked curiously; she had overheard part of their exchange, but hadn't quite got the full picture.

Miku jumped at the unexpected voice, but soon calmed down once she realised it was only Miki, glad to see the face of one her work friends. "Oh, just a delivery driver in a rush… using the fact that he's busy to be rude for no reason." She explained rather bitterly, shaking her head at herself that she had let some of the man's anger transfer over to her. "But it's nothing to worry about now though… instead, I've got this big old thing to sort out." She joked in a more light-hearted manner as she pointed out the box to the redhead, just in case she had somehow missed it. "I'm not even sure what it could be; I don't even remembering ordering anything to be honest."

Both women stepped a little closer to the box in order to examine it; the tealette taking a closer look at the shipping information stuck to the top, whilst Miki inspected the longer faces, quickly identifying the company name that was part of the repeating pattern across the box's surface. "I recognise this brand…" She said absentmindedly, getting a small noise of interest from Miku which prompted her to continue. "They make pretty high end furniture: tables, chairs, desks and the like."

"Chairs…" Miku murmured to herself as it finally clicked in mind, and in a second she knew exactly what the box was bound to contain. "Of course, this must be the chair that Lu… I err… that Megurine-san ordered for me last week." Miku almost blurted the pink haired woman's first name without thinking, glad that she both caught herself just in time, and that the Miki thankfully didn't seem to notice. "I was wondering when it would finally arrive…"

Whilst she hadn't noticed the tealette's near slip up, Miki was a little confused as to why their boss would have done such a thing in the first place. "Wait… Megurine-san bought this for you? How come?" She questioned, sounding a little surprised.

"Oh, well… my shoulders were hurting last week, and it happened to come up during our Friday meeting." Miku started to explain, the redhead listening curiously. "And without even asking, Megurine-san just offered… no, she pretty much insisted that she would get me a new chair to help with the pain." She finished as she recalled their meeting, making sure to leave out any mention of the memorable massage that followed shortly after.

"Hmm…" Miki mused, her eyes scrunching up slightly as she assessed what she had just heard. "That's a bit odd; I can't remember anything like that happening before… and it's probably a really nice chair too by the looks of it." She said more to herself than Miku, though her words still managed to set the tealette's heart racing a little. "But…" She chirped, as any traces of suspicion disappeared from her features. "Megurine-san is such a nice person, so it's not impossible that she would do something like this for an injured employee… we really do have a pretty great boss, huh Miku?"

Miku nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Megurine-san is pretty awesome." She replied, her faint blush darkening a shade as she couldn't help but think of other reasons why she considered Luka to be great. "But anyways…" She began quickly after clearing her throat, wanting to move the subject off of her crush as soon as possible to avoid any further potential embarrassment. "Would you mind helping me get it open?" Miku asked a little sheepishly, scratching the back of her head as she spoke.

Miki smiled in response; glad that Miku had chosen her to assist; taking it as a sign that their fledging friendship was coming along nicely. "Not at all!" The redhead answered enthusiastically, before quickly getting to work alongside the other woman.

Four hands made short work of laying the box down and getting it unpacked, and before long the chair was free of all of its high quality packaging. Though, it was still in two main parts; the lower half with five legs coming off from the central shaft, and then the chair itself, along with a few bags containing the wheels and various small fittings. "Looks like it will need some final assembly." Miku announced fairly redundantly as she flicked through the included instruction manual. "Though I didn't see any tools as we were unpacking everything, but it looks like it will need at least a hex key and a screwdriver." She said as she checked each of the little bags once more just to make sure. "Do you know if we have any tools here in the office?"

Miki thought for a moment. "I think we do, I'm pretty sure I saw Kamui-san fixing a tripod the other day, and he had a little red toolbox with him if I remember correctly." She replied, though whilst she knew of the tools, she was clueless as to their current location. "Hey, Meiko…" She called out to the brunette, glad that a more senior member of staff happened to be walking through their corner of the office at this very moment. "Do you know what Kamui-san did with the toolbox?"

The older woman seemed to be in a rush; only stopping long enough to give her answer before quickly continuing onto her original destination. "I think I saw him putting them away in the cabinets around the corner, you know… in the office storage area."

"Thank you Meiko-san!" Miki called out after the brunette as she walked away, before turning back to the bespectacled young woman beside her. "Do you know where that is, or do you want me to go there and get them for you?" She asked politely, unsure if the still fairly new tealette knew which area Meiko had been referring to.

"I think so…" Miku began, sounding a little unsure of herself as she stood up from her previously crouched position. "I'll go have a look. Do you mind putting the wheels on the legs for me whilst I'm gone?" She asked tentatively; glad to get a short, yet enthusiastic response from the red haired woman. "Thanks, I shouldn't be too long."

With that, Miku exited her cubicle and traversed the width of the office swiftly, quickly arriving at the reasonably sized storage area along the right side of the main office. It was essentially a dead end corridor, albeit about double the normal width so that there was enough room for the row of cabinets and line of shelves on the left and right walls respectively. There wasn't a door to enter, but as it was closed off from the back and both sides, it did almost feel as if it was a separate room in and of itself. "Where could it be…?" Miku wondered to herself out loud as her eyes scanned the essentially new surroundings; the only time she had been to this part office before had been during orientation on her first day. "She said cabinets, right?" She asked herself, soon disregarding the multiple racks of shelving containing large boxes of paper; presumably archived records of the business. "But there's gotta be like a dozen to choose from, where do I even start… oh…"

Just as the tealette was starting to become overwhelmed by the idea of a potentially long search, the chromatic shine of the small red toolbox caught her eye… though instead of being a welcome relief, it was simply a new obstacle for her to overcome "Why is it up there?" She asked the empty room in disbelief, her eyes focused on the object that was not in a cabinet, rather on top of one instead. "How am I supposed to reach that?"

After taking a second to simply comprehend why anyone would do such a thing, Miku quickly concluded that she was never going to reach the toolbox without some assistance; even on her tiptoes she figured that her sixty-two inches of height wouldn't even allow her to come close, and that a boost of some sort would be required. "There must be a stool I can stand on… maybe one of these boxes would be enough to hold my weight." She pondered to herself, checking her surroundings for anything she could use to make herself temporarily taller.

As the tealette was struggling to find a solution to her height problem, Luka emerged from her own office. While she had every intention of heading to the break room to fix herself up a nice cup of coffee, the pinkette happened to catch a brief flash of a particular individual's distinct hair colour out of the corner of her eye. And as it came from one of the less visited corners of the office, Luka felt compelled to investigate, her caffeine urge forgotten in an instant and quickly replaced with something far more important. "Ahh, I thought I had seen a glimpse of teal from down here." She remarked as she turned the corner, Miku's presence in their makeshift archive confirming her suspicion. Though, whilst she immediately noticed the tealette - how could she not - she also quickly picked up on the expression she was currently wearing; one of both confusion and mild… irritation by the looks of things. "Are you okay Hatsune-san? Do you need help with anything?"

Miku's heartbeat quickened at her boss' voice; the sound alerting her to Luka's presence and instantly making her feel more than a little nervous. It was the first time they had really been semi alone since Friday after all; all of their other one on one interactions during the week had been out in the main office in front of other people, but now that they were tucked out of the way in an infrequently visited corner of the office… just the two of them, Miku couldn't help but feel a tad tense.

It didn't help that Luka looked as good as ever today; the plain white shirt tucked into a grey pencil skirt being quite the simple outfit, yet still stunning when worn by the pink haired woman. Though, Miku couldn't help but feel that there was something different about the pinkette's look today. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, but her boss somehow looked more casual; almost as if she had all her attributes turned down a notch… she was still effortlessly beautiful, sexy and elegant just as always, but just not quite to the same degree as she normally seemed for some unknown reason.

Though as she stood there trying to figure out what was different about the older woman, it only occurred to Miku that she had been staring at the pinkette for the last five seconds without saying a word when she noticed Luka's expression begin to change, morphing from one of questioning concern to one of amused confusion. "I… err…" Miku started nervously after realising that she had been staring, and that Luka may have caught her starting as well. "M-my chair… the one y-you got me… it j-just arrived." She tried her best to explain through numerous stutters and fumbles, taking a second just to breathe before she continued. "I need some tools to put it t-together, so I came down here to look for them." She managed with only minimal stutters, before pointing up at the toolbox's current location. "But the box is too high for me to reach, so I was just looking around for a stool or something to stand on."

Luka couldn't help but smile softly at the cute way her employee delivered her explanation; finding the way she bumbled through her words after being caught off guard to be utterly adorable. "I see…" She offered in return, before doing her own quick visual inspection of their immediate surroundings. "Well there's none around here..." She quickly concluded, before poking her head around the wall and checking the main office. Though despite her good line of sight to the majority of the large space, the pinkette couldn't spot a single stool anywhere, and so soon returned to the younger woman with that information. "… And I can't see any out there either… I could have sworn we had a few lying around somewhere, but they all seem to be missing at the moment." She declared, sounding a bit bewildered as to where they could have disappeared to.

Though she decided not to spend too long dwelling on the matter, instead quickly shifting her attention to the reason Miku needed a stool in the first place; looking up at the toolbox in both confusion, and slight annoyance. "That isn't the place for those; they should be put in the cabinet, not on top of it." She said more to herself than to the tealette as she stepped in a little closer to the cabinet. "It's stupid… dangerous even to have something that heavy that high up." She pointed out as she looked to the shorter woman, getting a swift nod of agreement from her in return. "But, it can't be helped now I suppose." She conceded, shrugging her shoulders at the situation before her faint frown curved up into a soft smile. "Don't worry; I'll just get them down for you instead."

With that, the pinkette moved to stand just in front of the tall cabinet, getting herself into position under where the toolbox was. "Just give me one second… I'll have them down for you in no time." She offered with a smile before extending her arms upwards, stretching in an attempt to reach the small red box. Her fingertips could already naturally reach the top of the cabinet; though as the box was set in a couple inches deep, Luka was still unable to reach it just yet; spurring her on to stretch a little further.

But it was this simple act that - unbeknownst to the pinkette - had Miku staring in awe. In the process of stretching upwards Luka's shirt had become untucked from her skirt, and from where she currently had her arms above her head, her shirt had risen up a fair amount, allowing the younger woman to get a decent view of the bottom few inches of Luka's midsection; unable to take her eyes off of the delectable picture in front of her. "Wow…" She silently whispered to herself as she greedily drank in the sight; Luka's lightly toned abs… her perfectly flat belly that transitioned in the generous curves of her waist and hips… the unblemished softness of her pale skin… Miku couldn't help but think that Luka's appearance was simply divine.

It didn't help matters when her boss went up on her tiptoes in an effort to extend her reach; as not only did it expose another inch or so of impossibly soft looking skin, but the extra effort caused the pinkette to let out a few low groans as she tried her best to reach the box; the slightly sensual sounding noises combined with the tantalising view before her making it rather difficult for Miku to ignore her recently realised feelings for the older woman.

Though, before Miku's brain went completely haywire from the stimulating situation, the pinkette dropped back down onto the soles of her feet as her hands came back down to rest at her sides, as it was clear that even she wasn't quite tall enough for the task at hand. "It's typical…" Luka said in disbelief as she turned to face the younger woman; Miku having only just managed to tear her gaze away from the pinkette's stomach in time; the return of Luka's shirt to a normal, albeit obviously untucked position having snapped her out of her fixated stare. "The one day a month that I choose to wear flats, and I'm just not tall enough without my heels when I really need to be."

"Ahh, so that's why she looks different… I can't believe I didn't pick up on that earlier." Miku thought to herself as she noticed the now suddenly shorter pinkette, glad to finally know the cause of the difference that she couldn't put her finger on earlier; finding it interesting that something as simple as a lack of a pair of heels could have such a noticeable effect.

Thinking about it now, it was the first time she had seen Luka's true height… and whilst she was still taller, the difference in their heights was far less than normal; perhaps only a couple inches instead of the usual six, seven, or occasional eight. And now that the pinkette no longer towered over her, Miku actually felt noticeably less intimidated and nervous around the now shorter woman; giving her the confidence to joke with her boss about the matter. "It's almost a little strange to see you without your heels, I had gotten used to having to look up every time we spoke." She offered with a smile, glad to get one from her boss in return. "B-but…" She started, pausing for a second as she decided whether or not to go ahead with what she wanted to say… her boosted confidence, as well as her crush for the pink haired woman winning out over her nervous shyness after a short internal conflict. "You still look great without them."

The faintest of blushes graced the taller woman's cheeks, her mouth forming a surprised little o-shape at Miku's unexpected, but very welcome compliment. "Why, thank you Hatsune-san." She replied politely, before taking a small step towards her employee. "You know… you should try wearing heels yourself from time to time." She said ever so slightly seductively, her eyes moving down along Miku's body as she moved in closer still, her hungry gaze eventually stopping on the shorter woman's legs, not even trying to be subtle as she practically devoured Miku's lower half with her eyes. "I'm sure they'd make your legs look even better than they already do, sweetie."

Miku lost her newfound confidence just as quickly as she gained it; the older woman's seductively uttered and rather inappropriate compliment having effortlessly knocked her back down a few notches; bringing her gaze to the floor, as well as a blush to her cheeks. Though, in addition to her hammering heart and the pesky heat in her face, Luka's comment had made her think that the idea that the pink haired woman liked her back was definitely back on the table. "That… that was flirting, right?" Miku asked herself, the little voice in the back of her mind agreeing with what she had concluded. "There's no way that wasn't flirting… who says something like that without meaning it?" She continued internally, taking a few seconds to deliberate over it.

Though, after finally deciding that it was indeed flirting, and that of course meant that Luka could be interested in her, it only just occurred to the tealette that a solid chunk of time had passed by in silence, all whilst she stared at the carpet like it the most interesting thing in the room no less. Tentatively, Miku brought her gaze back up, only to be met with the pink haired woman looking back at her expectantly, with a slight, but ever increasing look of worry forming on her face, most likely caused by the fact that she had just left her hanging after being complimented; her boss presumably concerned that she might have gone too far. "S-sorry, I… I kinda spaced out there a little." She explained, getting an understanding, but almost saddened nod in return; the gesture prompting Miku to continue without her even having to consciously think about it. "Thank you… f-for… what you said before." She added lowly, relieved to see Luka's smile return as she shyly addressed the compliment she had paid her.

She toyed with the idea of complimenting her boss further; wanting to say something along the lines of 'still not as good as yours' in response to Luka's previous comment… as Miku truly felt that even in flats, the pinkette's legs looked incredible, sexy, and far better than her own for sure. Though, after taking a moment to think about it, Miku decided it was probably best not too; she didn't want things to get too unprofessional or even awkward between them right now. Instead, she did her best to forget what she wanted to say, before swiftly moving to change the subject back to the task at hand. "Anyways… what are we going to do about the tools then?"

The pinkette took a moment to think, her hand coming up to her forehead as she racked her brain for a solution. "We could find someone else taller… but Masuda-san and Kamui-san are both on lunch right now…" Luka paused as she tried to remember everyone who worked at Crypton, particularly anyone of greater than average height. "…And I don't think we have anyone taller than them on staff." She soon surmised, before quickly coming up with another idea. "There is one thing we could try…" She said hesitantly, catching the shorter woman's attention before she began a little sheepishly. "I… I could just lift you up so you can grab the tools?" She half suggested, half asked, sheepishly scratching the back of her head as she spoke.

Miku's breath caught in her throat… that would involve Luka touching her again, but even more so than before. At least with the massage it had only been Luka's hands on her shoulders, but if the older woman were to pick her up then she would have her whole body pressed up against Luka's. "We… I shouldn't do something like that…" Miku thought to herself as she imagined the scenario, her face heating up at just the thought of their bodies in contact. "Not when I feel the way I do about her… it wouldn't be right."

Luka knew it was a bit of a risky thing to ask, and so wasn't that surprised to see the younger woman's reaction; one of contemplation as she seemed to be inspecting the ceiling this time instead. Though, she did rather want this to happen now that she had suggested it, partly because she had had to put herself out there to ask in the first place, but mostly because she had been wanting some more physical contact with Miku, especially after their massage session last week. "Well, how does that sound, Hatsune-san?" She decided to ask, snapping the younger woman out of her thoughts and back to reality.

"I don't know…" Miku began hesitantly; wanting to come up with something other than the truth as to why they shouldn't… it wasn't like she could really give the pinkette the real reason. "Should we really be doing something like that… is… is it safe?" She asked after a few moments of thought, using safety as a weak, albeit still valid excuse.

"I think so… it should be safe enough at least." She replied jokingly in an attempt to lower Miku's guard, before trying a more serious approach after noticing the younger woman's still reluctant expression. "It'll be fine; as long as we're quick and careful there shouldn't be a problem." She stated plainly, stepping a little closer to the tealette. "And besides, I don't think you can lift me up… so we don't really have any other choice."

Miku couldn't disagree with that; if she wanted the tools then the pinkette's option seemed to be the only one they had. And while she felt she shouldn't do it, that didn't mean Miku didn't want to do it. On the contrary, she was honestly more than a little excited about the prospect of Luka touching her again. And so, even though she had told both Gumi and herself that she would try to ignore her crush on the pinkette, Miku felt that doing something like this just this once wouldn't hurt. "You're right…" She agreed, noticing the subtle smile forming on her boss' lips as she spoke. "Let's just hope I'm not too heavy." She joked, before moving into position in front of the cabinet.

The pinkette eyes widened with both shock and excitement; she had been beginning to think that Miku was going to decline, so it was a pleasant surprise to see change her mind, and be so seemingly willing at that. "I'm sure I can manage." She offered light-heartedly in response before moving in behind the shorter woman, her heart accelerating from the situation.

Being so close to the tealette again was awakening something new and exciting within Luka. She wasn't sure exactly what was causing it; perhaps Miku's subtly sweet aroma that she could now smell from being so close, or the fact that the younger woman had her back to her almost submissively, especially after seemingly conceding to her idea, but what Luka did know was that she was rapidly losing her ability to fully restrain herself; her normally rational and professional thoughts quickly becoming clouded with want and desire… all sorts of inappropriate ideas coming to mind at an alarming rate. "Are you ready sweetheart?" She asked in hot, low whisper, their smaller height difference today putting her lips perfectly in line with Miku's ear, loving the fact that she didn't even have to bend down in order to be teasing.

The taller woman's hot voice in her ear left Miku breathless, so her ability to speak, let alone form a coherent response had all but disappeared. "Unn…" Was about all she could presently muster, the small sound of acknowledgment paired with a short, swift nod at the pinkette's question.

After getting the go ahead from Miku, Luka reached out for the shorter woman, her hands soon finding the tealette's hips, which she held onto firmly. Just the feeling of the younger woman's delicate curves under her fingers sparked something within the pinkette; the subtle warmth and slight squishiness she felt only serving to further fan the flames burning within her. Without warning, to either Miku or herself for that matter, the pinkette pulled the shorter woman in gently, taking a short step forward as Miku was essentially forced to shuffle backwards a step to keep her balance, resulting in their bodies softly colliding in the middle; the whole of Miku's back now pressed up against her front satisfyingly.

Miku simply couldn't help the noise that escaped her lips as their bodies came fully into contact. "Ahnn…" She half sighed, half moaned at just the feel of their bodies together. She was hyperaware of the older woman behind her; her curvy body fitting up against her own, her warmth, and most noticeably her intoxicating scent all sending her senses haywire. Though what she liked the most were Luka's hot, and somewhat uneven breaths in her ear; every exhale from the slightly taller woman driving her insane.

Luka took a few moments just to enjoy her employee's reaction, loving the way she could tell Miku was blushing just by how much she felt her face had heated up. After revelling in both that little fact, and the rather erotic sound the younger woman had made as she pulled her in, Luka's idle hands eventually started moving, beginning their exploration of Miku's body. She started by sliding them a little lower, down past the tealette's hips until they rested on her thighs, making sure to give them a soft, but certainly not unnoticeable squeeze before moving back up again. She made sure to caress the front of her thighs as her hands climbed higher, moving them diagonally upwards until they eventually reached around Miku's bellybutton, before they diverged outwards, each hand taking a hold of the shorter woman's sides gently. "Mmmm…" She moaned to herself as quietly as possible as her hands travelled up the length of Miku's body teasingly slowly, eventually reaching just under the swell of her breasts before heading back down for her hips … though, the feeling of her hands caressing their way down her sides seemed to be too much for Miku to handle; the action causing the younger woman to shiver involuntarily in response.

Whilst Miku was rather guiltily enjoying what her boss was doing, she knew that she couldn't allow herself to indulge for much longer; knowing that she wouldn't be able to take much more of the pinkette's light, yet oh so intense touches. "Ahh, wha… Me-Megurine-san?" She half questioned, half gasped, being cut off mid-sentence as Luka took the opportunity to gently caress her abdomen with her fingertips. "I… I'm kinda ticklish there, wh-what are you trying to do?" She asked as casually as possible, not wanting to sound accusing and make the whole situation awkward as a result.

"I was just trying to figure out the best way to hold you." Luka stated very matter of factly, sounding so confident and sure of herself, despite her intentions very obviously being different from what she had said. "I think around the waist would be best." She added, before sliding her hands back down to the aforementioned part of Miku's body, successfully eliciting a small giggle from the younger woman as she fidgeted under her feather light touch. "Though, I might need to wrap my arms around you so I can put more effort in. It's not that you're heavy of course, it just that I'm not strong enough to lift you up with just my hands alone."

"That… makes sense…" Miku offered in return, sounding somewhat unconvinced. Whilst she did accept the older woman's last point - even if the idea of having Luka's arms wrapped around her was a little nerve-wracking - her explanation of what she was doing with her hands sounded a little suspicious to Miku. There was no way Luka was testing for a suitable place to hold her; her touch was far too light for that; if anything it was almost if her boss was playing with her. "Maybe… maybe she wanted to touch me like that?" She half stated, half questioned to herself; her conclusion definitely sounding plausible given both the evidence she had just experienced, and the fact that it was fairly obvious that her waist would be the most logical place to hold her. Though, as much as she would have liked to take the time to think about it some more, the tealette could sense that Luka was waiting for a response, prompting her to put her thoughts aside and refocus on the matter at hand. "If you think that's the best way to do it, then it's fine with me, Megurine-san."

Luka grinned to herself; pleased that the tealette was on board with her plan. "Great, then please bear with me for a moment, Hatsune-san." The pinkette chirped happily, before squatting down; knowing that the majority of the power for the lift would need to come from her legs rather than her comparatively weaker upper body. Once her head was level with Miku's upper back, Luka then started to slowly snake her arms around the younger woman's waist, and after a few seconds of teasing touches, the pinkette eventually found herself hugging Miku tight around her midsection, with her head resting sideways between her shoulder blades. "Are you ready?" She decided to ask again, this time getting a short verbal response from the other woman. "Good, on the count of three I'm gonna lift you up, then you just grab the toolbox, and when you have it just let me know so we can get you back down on the ground… understood?"

"Hai!" Miku replied back swiftly, though not before committing Luka's mission plan to memory. After a bit of shuffling around and few more adjustments, the taller woman finally started her countdown, quickly reaching three before tightening up her grip on the tealette and lifting her up into the air. "Ahh…" Miku gasped involuntary as she was picked up… though not from the action itself. Instead, the reason for the surprised noise came from the strength and power her boss had displayed. Being as close as they were, Miku could clearly feel the taller woman's strong muscles that were tensed up against her; Luka's biceps against her waist being the most notable. Though, what was most intriguing to the younger woman was that, despite how toned the pinkette seemed to be, Luka was still so soft and curvy at the same time. Being in such close contact like they were, the tealette was having a hard time not thinking about the ample breasts pressed up against her back, or the strong yet so still so delicate arms holding her so closely against such a curvy form, so much so that in just the space of a few seconds, thoughts of Luka's body had completely and effortlessly filled her mind, leaving their current task no room to exist, much less be acted upon.

Though the pinkette didn't really mind; with Miku seemingly preoccupied with her thoughts it gave her more time to enjoy the rather intimate position she found herself in. She loved having Miku in her arms; it was everything she had been hoping it would be and more; be it the way her slim form was nestled so perfectly up against her own, the way she was almost drowning in the tealette's grippingly sweet scent now that they were so close, or even just the way she could hear Miku's rapid and thumping heartbeat what with her ear pressed up against her back like it was… Luka honestly couldn't decide which aspect she enjoyed the most. But, even though she would have liked to have stayed in this position and just enjoyed all the little things being so close allowed her to experience about the tealette, the older woman could already feel the lactic acid beginning to build in her muscles; the small, but ever growing pain letting her know that she couldn't keep this up forever, prompting her to check on the younger woman above. "Sweetie…?" She called out, jogging the tealette from her thoughts. "Can… can you see it yet?"

A faint blush spread across Miku's face, partly from the pinkette calling her sweetie which never ceased to turn her cheeks pink, but mostly from the fact that Luka had caught her drifting off again, especially as she had been thinking about her incredibly soft body no less. So she was certainly thankful of their current situation; whilst it was rather intimate and intense, at least her boss wasn't able to see her blushing face from her position behind her. "I can… but…" She replied with a hint of difficulty; despite the pinkette doing a great job of holding her up, the tealette still needed to engage her own muscles a little in order to maintain her balance… especially when she would try, and fail to reach out for the box. "But... I can't quite reach it. I'm close though." She added after a few unsuccessful attempts, before an idea quickly came to mind. "Would… would you be able to lift me a little higher?"

The pinkette was a little hesitant, but after soon concluding that they didn't really have any other option, she began to prepare herself. "I'll try… brace yourself." She called out to the younger woman, giving her a few seconds to readjust before carrying out what she had in mind. Once they were both settled, the pinkette lifted her arms up abruptly; the motion sending Miku up another few inches before she quickly and seamlessly loosened up her grip and slid her arms back down a similar amount… the action effectively giving her a lower grip on the tealette's body - now around her hips - which in turn raised Miku up a little further.

Though, whilst they would most likely now have the height they needed, Luka could tell that their new position was a fair bit more wobbly; what with their higher combined centre of gravity. And so, in order to stabilise the tealette and herself, Luka tightened up her grip on the shorter woman considerably; resulting in both their bodies being brought in even closer together, and her face being pressed up against the middle of the tealette's back; the extra point of contact slightly higher up on Miku's form providing some much needed stability.

And whilst it did indeed help with stability, Miku couldn't help but be overly aware of the older woman's face pressed up so closely against her; particularly her breathing. It had only been a few moments since Luka's manoeuvre, but Miku had already noticed a change in the older woman's rhythm; with her face practically buried in her shirt like it was, the younger woman could clearly make out the long, deep inhales Luka made through her nose, followed by the uneven, and incredibly warm exhales back into her shirt through her mouth. "Is… is she sniffing me…?" Miku asked herself incredulously, but she soon became more and more convinced of her answer with each repetition of the pinkette's breathing pattern. "She is… there's no other explanation… Luka is really sniffing me… and so intently too."

It was this realisation, coupled with the fact Luka's arms were now wrapped around her hips that was making the already nervous tealette feel even more flustered; the almost overwhelming feeling prompting her to want to finish the task at hand so that this situation - whilst not exactly unpleasant, but incredibly unprofessional - could finally come to end. "I… I think I can reach it now." She called out to the pinkette below; letting Luka know that she was about to start moving again.

Though in her rush to get the whole ordeal over with, Miku opted to forgo any sort of plan and instead acted rather hastily. The second she had gotten a grip on the toolbox, the tealette pulled it off the top of the cabinet and back in towards her body, but the rather swift motion of the fairly heavy object inevitably caused their combined centre of mass to shift considerably; throwing off both her own, but more importantly, Luka's balance as well.

The pinkette hadn't been prepared for the younger woman's sudden movement; the extra momentum causing her to take a step back into a wider stance to try and mitigate some of the force. Though this only served to worsen the situation; as during the brief period where she was basically supporting Miku's weight on only one leg, Luka was sure that she had lost more balance than she had gained from her now wider stance.

Though that soon became irrelevant when the tealette instinctively dropped the toolbox a moment later, the feeling of losing her balance giving her an overwhelming urge to grab onto something to support herself; thus requiring her hands to be empty in order to do so. It did however also force Luka to lean out of the way to dodge to falling hazard; and when coupled with her already compromised position, it ended up being the final push past the point of no return; the pinkette quickly preparing herself for them to inevitably topple over.

She did her best to best to lower the younger woman down along her body as they fell; knowing that from her elevated position above her, Miku was at risk of a serious injury if she were to hit her head. Though as the tealette flailed around erratically as they fell, she had managed to spin herself around enough that she would instead land on her back; further increasing the chances of receiving a hard blow to the head courtesy of no long being able to see the floor that was rapidly approaching them both.

Luckily for Miku, her boss had chosen to worsen her own landing to protect her; using her right hand to support the back of her head, leaving Luka with only one hand to try and slow herself down with. "Ooof…" The pinkette breathed out as they both hit the floor; the pinkette having landed on her knees rather roughly over her employee; who herself was now fully laid out on her back, though with her head slightly elevated from Luka's supportive hand.

Miku's senses dulled for a few seconds; the fairly sharp - though thankfully already fading - pain in her tailbone overriding all other sensory input for a short period. "Owww…" She groaned as her tensed muscles finally relaxed; the small change in posture as her back flattened out against the floor agitating the pain at the base of her spine somewhat. "Wha…?" She murmured in confusion, not quite understanding why she couldn't rest her slightly spinning head on the floor. But as she began to come back to her senses, the first thing that Miku picked up on - mostly due to how unexpected and foreign it felt to her - were the slender fingers gently tangled in her hair; quickly figuring that it had to be her boss' hand that was cradling her head so protectively.

In an effort to check, the tealette opened her eyes groggily, only to be greeted with the sight of pink hair directly in front of her. "Me…gurine-san…" She groaned, looking to the side to confirm that Luka did indeed have her head next to hers, seemingly resting it on the floor as she too was bound to have been shaken up pretty badly. "But…" Miku began to think, her heart accelerating at what the information she had so far must have meant. "… Then… she must… she must be on top…" Miku's dazed brain eventually concluded, prompting her to shift her gaze back out in front of her, now seeing past the mess of pink hair, and at the taller woman's body above her; Luka practically straddling her on all fours.

This revelation sent a shot of adrenaline coursing through her veins; and within a second Miku had all but forgotten about her pain, and in the process, not only regained her senses, but if anything was now hyperaware due to the powerful chemical. This of course finally allowed her to pick up on the rapid thumping against the palm of her right hand, as whilst she hadn't moved it since the fall, she now only just noticed, and then soon understood just what her hands had been pressed up against for the last dazed half minute.

Though before Miku could remove her hands - due to her brain having seized up in shock; leaving them frozen in place - the pinkette half-heartedly pushed herself up off of her with both her free hand and the elbow that was in contact with the floor; allowing Miku to visually confirm her earlier guess. "I… I…" She stuttered nervously; panic having overtaken her at the sight of not just one, but both of her hands pressed up against her boss' breasts.

Miku's nervous, almost frightened sounding stuttering drew the groggy pinkette's attention; the sound causing her to sluggishly meet with the younger woman's gaze, before tilting her head down to the same spot that the teal eyes were so fixated on. "Wha… Mi…ku…?"

The sight and sound of her boss trying to figure out why her employee's hands were on her body so indecently was the kick Miku needed to finally tear them away from the older woman's form; swiftly removing them from the incredibly soft mounds of flesh and bringing them back in towards her own body; the slightly trembling appendages tucked up under her chin; subconsciously giving the tealette something to hide her blushing and practically terrified looking face behind. "I… I'm so sorry…" She quickly blurted out, looking off to the side out of embarrassment. "I just… I didn't mean… we just landed like… … I'm sorry…"

Just as Miku had been shocked back to life when she realised she had basically been fondling her boss, Luka had a similar reaction to seeing the tealette worriedly apologize at a thousand words a minute; the way she was apologising so sincerely coupled with the almost scared look plastered on her face was more than enough to snap Luka out of her own dazed pain in an instant. "Hey, shhh." The pinkette gently interrupted Miku's nervous and hurried babbling. "It's okay sweetie, I understand… that doesn't matter at all." She offered as reassuringly as she could; especially as she not only wasn't bothered by the accidentally inappropriate touch, but had actually quite enjoyed the feeling of her employee's delicately small hands on her body.

But, despite her attempts the reassure the shorter woman, Miku resumed her frantic apologies soon after Luka had finished talking, prompting the pinkette's to try again, although this time with a bit more meaning. "Hey…" She offered incredibly softly, the lone word both catching the tealette's attention, and momentarily pausing her rambling. "Don't worry…" She assured in a whisper as she gently lowered the younger woman's head down onto the floor, before sliding her fingers out from the impossibly soft tresses. "It's alright…" She went on, before bringing her hand up to Miku's face and brushing a few errant strands of teal hair out of the younger woman's eyes, her hand lingering for a moment in indecision before finally cupping Miku's cheek tenderly; the rather bold move successful in both silencing the tealette for good, and gaining her unwavering attention.

"It really is fine sweetheart; it didn't bother me in the slightest." She pointed out, glad to see the younger woman's expression change at her words; the small differences clearly noticeable now that she had moved to be fully over the shorter woman; her face now perfectly parallel above the tealette's. "All that matters to me right now is making sure that you're alright." She offered in a concerned tone of voice, looking over the tealette for any signs of injury. "Are you okay, Miku? Does it hurt anywhere?" She asked, not really caring about her previous rule of no first names in public given their current situation; all she cared about right now was the woman beneath her and her wellbeing.

"I… I'm fine… I think." Miku managed to say with difficulty; nervously stuttering at both the closeness of the older woman what with her still straddling her, and the unexpected hand holding her face so gently. "What about you… are you okay M-Megurine-san?"

Luka smiled down at the younger woman, pleased that Miku was also concerned for her in return, but mostly just because she was glad to hear that her employee was okay. "I'm alright; my wrist might be sore for a few days…" She admitted, before averting her gaze somewhat shamefully. "I'm really sorry, this was all my fault. I shouldn't have even suggested something so risky in the first place… I wasn't even able to support you properly…"

Miku's eyes widened at the tone the older woman had used; it really sounded as if she was beating herself up over their accident, despite - at least in Miku's eyes - not being the one to blame. "Hey, it wasn't you, it was me." She declared with a surprising level of confidence, her voice capturing the pinkette' attention away from her own self-blaming thoughts. "It was my fault; I was rushing… if I had been more careful pulling the box in, then this never would've happened."

The pinkette listened to Miku's side of the story intently, and quickly concluded that she did have a point; the single thing that started it all had been the tealette's carelessness with the toolbox. But, she wasn't going to let her employee take the blame, at least not all of it; for Luka knew that she could have done things better as well. "I guess… well, I guess we're both to blame then. But seeing as no one got seriously hurt, it doesn't really matter whose fault it was, hmm?" She offered, Miku thinking about her viewpoint for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Now then, as long as you're okay…" Luka started, taking a moment to check over the tealette once more; her eyes scanning over her body, then her face, before eventually meeting with Miku's gaze; giving her one last compassionate look as she stroked her cheek with her thumb. "Then how about we get off the floor?" She asked light-heartedly, glad to get both a smile and a small noise of agreement from the younger woman.

As she watched the pinkette push herself up off the floor, Miku sorely noticed the absence of Luka's presence above her. Her heat, her scent, the gentle pressure of her surprisingly light body pressed up against her own; they were all things that Miku found herself missing already. Though she wasn't given much time to think about it, as once the pinkette was back on her feet and crouched above her, she had offered Miku a helping hand; the sight of the pink accented appendage before her stopping her from slipping too deep into thought. "Ahh, thank you Megurine-san." She said courteously, before reaching out and accepting the much needed assistance; swiftly being pulled up onto her feet as Luka stood up fully.

But now that they were back upright, the tealette was faced with a different problem… that being her boss' exposed stomach. She guessed that her shirt had rucked up during their fall and subsequent time on the floor, but knowing why it had happened wasn't helping Miku deal with the sight in front of her; Luka's toned and honestly perfect midriff capturing both her gaze and her mind with ease. "Err…" She started with the intent to let her boss know, but something within her compelled her hold off for a moment; giving her a few more seconds to stare unrestrainedly at the exposed skin; greedily drinking in the sight before eventually letting Luka know. "Umm… Megurine-san… your shirt."

Luka cast her gaze downwards at the tealette's concerned words, rather shocked at the sight of her stomach on display. "Ahh…" She let out in a surprised voice, her cheeks turning a faint pink in reaction to seeing so much exposed skin. "Th-thank you Hatsune-san." She offered in return after getting over her initial shock, quickly unrolling the garment and tucking it back in to her skirt.

Luckily for Luka, she had just about managed to fix her appearance before a certain redheaded member of staff appeared at the entrance to the storage area. Miki had come to investigate; and whilst the single loud noise had drawn her attention, it had been the period of silence that followed it that had the redhead worried. Though, now that she was here, Miki was honestly having a bit of hard time processing the sight in front of her; a rare blushing pinkette, Miku looking away in embarrassment whilst as red as a tomato, and an array of various tool scattered on the floor; the whole situation leaving her with only one question on her mind. "What happened in here?"

Whilst the question had been directed towards the both of them, the pinkette was naturally the first to respond. "We had a little accident as we were trying to get the tools down." Luka explained plainly; deciding to leave out the finer details as to just how the accident had actually happened. "Thankfully, we're both alright… more just a bruised ego if anything." She went on, adding the last part jokingly as an extra assurance that they were both okay.

Miki nodded along as the pinkette spoke. "It looks like it was quite the accident; there's tools everywhere." She remarked, taking a short step towards the pink and teal pair. "Do you need any help cleaning this up?"

Luka flashed her redheaded employee an appreciative smile. "Thank you for the offer Fukiwara-san, but this is my mess, so it's only right that I be the one to tidy it up." She declined respectfully, getting a short bow from the younger woman before she returned to her desk, leaving her to tackle the mess alone. It wasn't long before she got to work; crouching down and dutifully picking up the scattered tools and placing them back in their box.

Though, as she still felt that it had been mostly her fault, Miku joined her boss after a few seconds despite Luka having declined Miki's assistance; as she felt like it was her responsibility to help too. "Let me help, M-Megurine-san." She offered as she crouched down next to the older woman, but as much as she wanted to help, her nervousness was quickly getting in the way of things. Her hands collided with Luka's multiple times in only the space of a few moments, be it when she went for the same tool as the other woman, or when she went to put one away in the box without realising her boss' hand was already there; each touch making her feel even more nervous and less confident at the same time. "Dammit…" Miku muttered under her breath when their hands collided rather forcefully once again, causing both her and the pinkette to drop the tool they had each been holding. "I… I'm sorry… I don't know what's come over me…" She offered to the floor in front of her boss, her embarrassment growing with every awkward moment. "I'm not usually this clumsy… I just… I…"

The pinkette was more than a little concerned at her employee's behaviour, as so before she could nervously babble any further, Luka took the younger woman's hands in her own; the action stopping Miku in her tracks. "Slow down sweetie… calm down." She instructed soothingly, stroking the shorter woman's trembling hands with her thumbs. "It's okay, what's wrong?"

Just as it had done on her first day, the pinkette's gesture helped to calm Miku down considerably; bringing her back from being a babbling mess to someone who could actually form a coherent sentence. "I don't know, it's just… after messing up getting the tools down, and then being clumsy now… making so many mistakes in front of my boss doesn't make me look very good." She tried to explain, thought whilst she was indeed worried about looking bad in front of her boss, part of her nervousness had come from looking bad in front of her crush, though she wasn't exactly going to give that as a reason to the pinkette. Still, her shaky hands and erratic thoughts were largely from being so close to Luka before; the effects of the older woman straddling her still lingering somewhat.

Luka couldn't help but laugh softly at her employee's explanation. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that Hatsune-san." She replied, giving Miku's hands a gentle squeeze as she spoke. "With that… you shouldn't really think of me as your boss all the time; it only adds unnecessary pressure if you think of me like that." She explained, the slightly confused look from the younger woman prompting her to elaborate. "Only think of me as your boss in the most serious of situations, otherwise I'd actually prefer if you saw me as someone you can just get along with… like a friend."

Miku's heart leapt at the word; shocked that the pinkette would even consider being friends with her. "R-really… you… want to be friends?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, to be honest I meant that in a more general sense. It would be great if every member of staff had that point of view; I really don't want to be thought of as just someone's boss all the time, I don't feel old enough for that." Luka explained, adding the last part jokingly.

Miku cast her head down shamefully. "Ah… of course, sorry…" She apologized for jumping to such a conclusion, kicking herself for thinking so optimistically that such an unbelievable thing could be true.

The pinkette hadn't properly considered the effect her words might've had, and now that she saw the rather glum, and self-loathing expression the younger woman was wearing, Luka felt it best to further explain herself. "That's not to say I don't want to be friends specifically with you." She offered almost in a whisper, her voice, coupled with the reassuring squeeze she gave the tealette's hands succeeding in reuniting their gazes. "We can be friends, Miku… I'd be more than happy to."

Miku smiled at the pinkette's words, wanting nothing more than to be friends with Luka; she was so awesome, such a good boss, and just an all-round really sweet and caring person, Miku doubted that there was anyone who would decline such an invitation. "I… umm…" Though as much as wanted to let her boss know, the tealette rather goofily didn't quite know what to say; the way Luka had phrased her reply, and just the simple notion itself having thrown her off somewhat. "Unn…" She managed to make a small noise of agreement, making sure to pair it with a short nod before her rapidly darkening blush forced her to look away out of embarrassment. "I'd like that…" She managed to add, her voice barely above a whisper.

Luka had to hold back the pleased squeal that threated to escape from her lips; the way the younger woman had reacted being almost too cute for her to handle; particularly loving the way the tealette had uttered her last sentence so shyly. "I'd like that too, sweetheart…" She offered in reply, her quiet voice bringing Miku's eyes up from the carpet, eventually meeting with her own after a few moments of nervous indecision.

Though, in a surprise to herself, Luka was the first to break eye contact; looking away after only a few seconds. She didn't know if it was because of the rather intimate atmosphere between them, or the way Miku's teal orbs were shining with such genuine happiness whilst they were glued to her own, but something about the whole situation felt very intense to the older woman; making it almost impossible for her to keep up their staring contest for more than a few seconds. "I… err…" Luka faltered, her cheeks pink from the slightly embarrassing ordeal, though it wasn't long before her natural confidence was able to take back over. "Well, that's very good Hatsune-san." She offered a little abruptly, before - somewhat reluctantly - releasing the tealette's hands. "But, how about we get this mess sorted out before we draw any more attention, hmm?"

Miku had obviously accepted; her boss' tone had shifted back to a more professional sounding one, and whilst it was by no means strict or bossy, the tealette could tell that she was talking to 'Luka the regional manager' rather than Luka, her new friend.

The pinkette quickly joined Miku; helping her to put the tools away, albeit in a more coordinated and less clumsy manner after she had successfully calmed the tealette's nerves. It wasn't long before the collection of scattered metal implements had successfully been returned to their correct places, though the few that Miku needed remained in her possession as Luka closed the lid on the little red box, not wasting any time in picking it up and taking it over to the cabinets. "Let's put these away in a more sensible place, hmm?" She asked rhetorically to the younger woman who was now standing beside her, before placing the object that had caused them so much trouble and effort to get to on a waist high shelf. "With these here I won't even need my heels like I mentioned before." She added jokingly, though the mention of the topic brought back the same thoughts as earlier; her eyes drifting back down to Miku's legs subconsciously. "You know… I wasn't joking with what I said before…" She started, sounding a little distracted as she eyed up the lower half of the tealette's body just as blatantly as before. "I really think you should try wearing heels sometimes." She added seriously, her gaze slowly trailing its way up the slender legs of her employee; taking a few seconds to finally reach her waist before she quickly looked up to meet with Miku's eyes. "I'm sure you'd look great in a pair."

A look of surprise instantly formed on the younger woman's face, but Luka could tell that it wasn't mixed with displeasure or uneasiness in the slightest; it was simply one of shock at hearing such a thing from her boss. Instead of a scowl or disapproving look, Miku simply stood there with her mouth half open as a pink tinge made its way across her cheeks; a sight that the pinkette adored seeing, but one which also gave her the signal to not labour the point any further and risk making Miku uncomfortable; she could see that she had made an impact on the younger woman and so quickly decided to change the subject back to one more work related. "Well, that's all the tools you need, but would like any help in putting your new chair together."

"Ahh… no… thank you, Megurine-san…" Miku tripped over her words a little, the sudden change in tone being rather unexpected. "I think I should be able to manage from here, plus I've got Fukiwara-san on the job already." She added more confidently, before they both wordlessly decided to head back into the main office now that their business here was concluded. "Thanks again, Megurine-san." She felt the need to say as they stopped at the point their paths would diverge, smiling up at the older woman as she gestured with a newly tool filled hand.

"No problem… I… I think we worked really well as a team, Hatsune-san… even still considering our little accident." She added the last part at a volume that only the younger woman would hear. "I'm gonna go get a coffee, would you like me to bring you one?"

Miku nodded at her boss' offer, returning the pinkette's smile before said woman made her way to the break room; finally giving her some time alone to think; something that she had been incapable of doing the last five Luka-filled minutes. There was no question that she had a crush on Luka; the recent events with the toolbox had not only irrevocably confirmed that fact, but had also significantly strengthened the feelings she held for her pink haired boss. Not only that, but the way the older woman had acted left Miku feeling like there was a good chance Luka liked her back too in some capacity.

And so now here was, back at her cubicle after absentmindedly walking there on autopilot, with a head filled to overflowing with thoughts of her boss. Be it the way she held her so close, the feeling of her soft curves gently pressing down into her own, or just the way she had so seriously suggested a change in footwear as she eyed up her legs so hungrily. Hell, from even just those few compliments she had been filled with an strange urge to go shoe shopping tonight; through a combination of wanting to do as her boss suggested, wanting to please the older woman, as well as even wanting to see Luka's reaction to her legs in heels after she had made such a strong point about it… the pinkette had really gotten into her head in an almost scary way.

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 **Apologies if the ending was a little abrupt, I wasn't quite sure where to stop and the word count was getting rather high, so I ended it there. Hopefully this chapter was enough to satisfy most negitoro cravings for a while, though if it wasn't then rest assured that the next one will have even more negitoro goodness that this. I should mention that the next chapter will have the foot fetish-y scene in it (in case you didn't already guess from all the mention of Miku in heels here) so I just wanted to give a little heads-up for that now.**

 **Again, if you have then time, then I'd be really grateful if you left a review of this chapter; your feedback and comments are not only awesome to hear, but can be incredibly useful when writing future chapters.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone, back with another chapter.**

 **Thanks to everyone who read the previous chapter, I'm really grateful for all the reviews that chapter got, and so just wanted to say a big thanks again to those of you who left one. Also, to the guest who binge-read and reviewed all five chapters in a few hours, thanks to you too for the support.**

 **Just a reminder that this chapter has a foot fetish-y scene, and whilst it is fairly tame, I understand that it still might not be everyone's cup of tea, so if you don't like it then don't read.**

 **Anyways, here's another rather long chapter for you all to enjoy.**

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Friday 24th August 2018

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Miku's swift, nimble fingers made short of work of the small bowl of cereal with the spoon they held between them; rapidly bringing mouthful after mouthful of the puffed rice and milk mixture up to her mouth; emptying the ceramic vessel in record time just as the short on time tealette had intended. "Hopefully I'll have time to get something from the store." She thought to herself as she took her bowl over to the sink and rinsed out the remains of her meagre, rushed breakfast; the tealette having opted for a quick bowl of cereal rather than a more traditional Japanese breakfast to save time. "But with these heels, I'd be lucky to even catch my train if I don't get going soon." She reminded herself, her actions rather frantic as she tried to get things done as quickly as possible.

Kaito had been watching his girlfriend all morning; finding it impossible not to notice Miku's odd behaviour today. "What's up with you today?" He questioned, his curiosity finally getting the better of him as he observed the tealette from his seat at the table. "And what's with that getup?"

Miku couldn't help but blush lightly at her boyfriend's questions, wishing she had the time to spare to let it die down before turning to face him. "I… I don't know what you're talking about." She tried her best to feign innocence, giving him a questioning look in return. "I'm fine… and my getup…" She paused in order to draw attention to the bluenette's out of the ordinary choice of phrases, hoping to divert the attention off of herself. "Well… it's perfectly normal."

However, Miku knew this not to be the case… in fact, she knew she looked her absolute best today. It was Friday after all, which of course meant that no matter what, she was guaranteed to have some alone time with Luka during their end of week meeting, and after deciding that she would take her boss' advice and wear heels, Miku had decided to go all out. She was wearing one of her best black dresses; that whilst still appropriate for work, was definitely nicer and just a bit sexier than anything she would normally wear; a noticeable step up from her fairly plain and conservative clothing choices. That, coupled with the touch of extra effort she put into her hair and makeup this morning really made for quite the picture. "Th-this… it's nothing really…" She felt the need to add, especially after Kaito had remained silent for the last few seconds.

"I dunno…" The bluenette thought to himself out loud, rubbing his chin as he eyed up his girlfriend slowly and deliberately. "You look… how should I put it? You look extra; like every aspect of yours has been enhanced somehow." He struggled to put his finger on just what was different, though the sight of Miku's footwear soon diverted his attention. "You're even wearing high heels!? I don't think I've ever seen you wear shoes like that before." He remarked incredulously.

"S-so… there's a first time for everything." Miku weakly tried to defend herself, getting a disapproving look from the man across the table. "I can wear them if I want to… the other women in the office wear them all the time." She argued, though she wasn't truly sure if that was the case; she had only really been thinking of one woman in particular, but she was sure the rest must have done so at some point. "It's no big deal…" She added, earning another look from Kaito, but as she was neither in the mood, nor had the time to argue, Miku dropped it, instead opting to let her boyfriend know that she was short on time. "It doesn't matter… look, I'm running late; I need to get going."

Kaito got up from his chair and walked around the table, stopping in front of his now considerably taller girlfriend. "That's because you spent all that extra time in the bathroom this morning; messing about with your hair and face." He pointed out very matter of factly. "You were even up early this morning, and yet you're still running late?" He asked, his tone sounding a little accusing, taking a step forward to reduce the already short distance between them. "Is there a guy at work that you're interested in or something?" He jokingly questioned, though hints of seriousness and concern could be heard in his voice.

Miku just about managed to hide any outward reaction from showing on her face, but on the inside she was practically screaming at her lover's question; leaving her with nothing to do but laugh it off nervously. "Haha… no of course not, I love you, silly." She answered as calmly as possible; the only reason she could even keep a straight face being that it was technically not a lie; she definitely wasn't interested in any of the men that worked at Crypton, though that still didn't make it easy for the tealette to say it.

She could see that he still looked suspicious, so despite her ever dwindling supply of spare time, Miku felt it best to reassure the bluenette, lest he decide to pry further. Taking his face in her hands, the tealette brought their lips together for a heartfelt kiss; lingering there for a good ten or so seconds in the hopes of convincing Kaito that his suspicions were wrong, before finally pulling away only to wrap her arms around him for a reassuring hug. "There's no-one… I promise… I just wanted to wear this today." She whispered softly, squeezing the taller man tightly before finally pulling away for good. "I have to go; I'll miss my train if I stay any longer." She reiterated, glad to see him nod in acceptance and motion for her to get going. "Have a good day at work." She offered as she grabbed her bag and keys, getting the same sentiment echoed back to her, albeit still sounding a little unsure, prompting her to reiterate before she finally left. "I love you, Kaito."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The tealette breathed a long sigh of relief as she stepped into the building; the cool, air-conditioned lobby of the giant skyscraper was quite the welcome place after her short, yet rather time consuming walk from the train station. Despite the early hour, it was already shaping up to be a scorcher of a day, though having lived in Japan her whole life, Miku was more or less accustomed to the heat by now… instead, it was the heat coming from within that was currently the issue.

Miku honestly felt kind of silly. A dress that she simply wasn't used to wearing, heels that even whilst concentrating, she could only just about walk in with difficulty, and all whilst being on the train in the heat of a Japanese summer… the combination was a bit too much for the flustered tealette; leaving her feeling rather embarrassed and self-conscious. Given her appearance today, she had garnered a lot of looks from guys on the train during her journey to work, and while she was somewhat happy that people seemed to find her more attractive than what she would have ever thought of herself, the looks themselves were quite unwanted.

And so, Miku was glad to have arrived at work; glad to be out of the situation where a dozen strangers were looking at her with want, even if she sort of knew that she had partly brought the situation on herself by going the extra mile with her appearance today, it still didn't give random strangers the right to ogle her to their heart's content. If people at work were to look, or perhaps even comment, Miku figured she would be able to handle it better; she'd rather not draw extra attention, but at least being in a comfortable environment with people she already knew would make any looks she got easier to deal with. Though, out of everyone who worked at Crypton, Miku was only really interested in one person's reaction in particular. She was both nervous and excited to see what Luka thought; especially as she had gone the extra mile and left her comfort zone by picking out a fairly high pair of heels during her shopping trip last night… she honestly couldn't wait to see what her boss' reaction would be.

Though, sooner than she would have thought, it looked like Miku might get her answer. Without even realising it, the tealette had ended up in front of the elevators after meandering through the lobby on autopilot, and as she had been so absorbed in her thoughts, and therefore not paying much attention to her surroundings, she had completely missed Luka as she left the lobby toilets, walked right across her path out in front of her, and finally entered the elevator that was now before her.

Though it seemed as if her boss hadn't noticed her either up until that point; the look of slight surprise on the pinkette's face shortly after she had turned around in the elevator proving as much. So it was quite the surprise to Miku when she finally looked up to see Luka standing in the lift, seemingly waiting for her as she held the button to keep the doors from closing. "Good morning Hatsune-san!" Luka called out cheerily, the sound of the older woman's voice grabbing her attention. "Are you coming straight up… or?"

Miku blushed faintly, partly from simply being caught off guard whilst off in her own head again, but mostly because it was Luka of all people to be the one to do so. She had guessed that she wouldn't have seen her boss until the working day had started, and that there was even a good chance that the opportunity for Luka to see her whole outfit wouldn't have come until their end of week meeting, so seeing the pink haired woman standing in front of her now left Miku feeling rather unprepared. In an instant she couldn't help but worry about her appearance; had the wind messed up her hair, or was the nervous sweat from the intense train ride still noticeable on her brow, or worse, had it ruined the makeup she spent so long getting right this morning?

But, as the older woman was still stood waiting, and as she quickly figured that there was nothing she could do about any of those potential problems, Miku decided to simply answer the pinkette's question after a few moments of nervous, internal panicking. "H-hai…" She stuttered as she quickly made her way over to the elevator; she had indeed been planning on going up as soon as she got in, just obviously not with the pinkette. "Thanks for waiting, Megurine-san."

With that, the younger woman stepped into the relatively small metal box, and whilst she was glad to find that she hadn't been holding anyone else up whilst she had been spacing out, she certainly felt a little nervous as she watched the heavy doors slide shut; the action cementing the idea in Miku's brain that she was now alone with her boss for the minute or so journey to the twenty-first floor. It didn't help that even just standing still in her heels required concentration for Miku, what with being rather inexperienced with the shoes she was presently wearing… she was honestly starting to regret going with a four inch heel. Whilst Luka appeared to be wearing a heel of a similar height to hers today, from what the tealette could tell, four inches was on the lower end for the taller woman, and yet she made it look easy… almost effortless even. And here she was, standing next to the tall, elegant, and composed pinkette, simply trying her best not to break an ankle or fall flat on her face… all of which, plus the fact that she was in quite the small space with the woman she had a crush on was making things rather tense for the troubled tealette.

It didn't help matters when she glanced up from their footwear to see Luka's eyes on her in the reflection of the mirrored wall. As she watched her for a few moments, it quickly became clear that the majority of the pinkette's attention was focused on the lower half of her body, as just like she had been doing yesterday, Luka was devouring her legs with an obvious and rather intense look on her face. Though, her boss was also paying the rest of her some attention too; her eyes running all over her body from head to toe, seemingly very happy with her outfit as a whole, not even trying to be discreet as she basically ate her up with her eyes.

Though the intensity soon got to be too much for the younger woman; forcing her gaze back downwards out of embarrassment. The reaction didn't go unnoticed by Luka, and as she figured she was likely the cause of Miku's sudden display of self-consciousness, she wasted no time in gently placing a comforting hand on her employee's shoulder, the action causing to Miku to look back up just as quickly as she had averted her gaze, a slightly surprised expression playing across her face as she met with her boss' now much softer gaze. "Sorry for staring... I just couldn't help but notice your outfit today…." She paused, flashing a smile at the tealette before her eyes briefly flicked back down to Miku's footwear. "…Or your shoes for that matter… heels, just like I said."

Miku smiled back at the pinkette, giving her a quick little nod at her astute observation. "Umm… yeah…" She offered a little nervously, the expectant look Luka wore - as if she waiting for her to say more - prompting her to rather awkwardly continue. "After you mentioned it yesterday… I dunno… I just wanted to give them a go…"

"I'm glad to hear that." Luka offered with an amused little chuckle; finding the way the younger woman had stumbled through her unnecessary explanation to be rather cute. "And I'm glad to see that my assumptions were correct." She went on, unable to stop herself from taking a few more moments just to admire the wonders they had done for her employee. "They really do make your legs look amazing, Miku."

The tealette naturally blushed in response, though not out of embarrassment, but more so just because she had greatly appreciated the compliment from her crush. It had sounded sincere, genuine, and without any hint of sarcasm or sign that she had been joking; the simple notion that Luka really did mean what she had said filling her with both satisfaction and confidence. And it was that extra self-confidence, coupled with both the fact that she was once again not all that much shorter than Luka, and was in private with her that gave the tealette the courage to compliment her boss back; finally saying what she had wanted to yesterday. "Th-thank you, but they're still not as good as yours…" She still somewhat nervously replied, though when she saw Luka's positive reaction she couldn't help but continue. "Your legs… they're… well they're perfect… you're just like a model."

Luka couldn't help the surprised look from spreading across her face at the younger woman's praise, though before she ended up looking completely flabbergasted, the pinkette quickly managed to compose herself, now smiling sweetly at the slightly shorter woman instead. "Thank you Miku." She replied appreciatively, but just as she was about to open her mouth to pay her another compliment in return, the tealette started talking once more; seemingly still having some more to say about her, but more importantly, still having the confidence to say what she really wanted to.

"I honestly thought you were when I first saw you… a model that is." Miku revealed, taking a second to recall the first time she laid eyes on the stunning pink haired woman from across the office. "It was such a surprise when you came and introduced yourself as our boss." She continued, glad to see Luka's smile grow wider and wider with each subtle compliment she paid her. "Who would've thought that a woman like yourself would be my boss."

Luka smirked; her employee's statement having definitely caught her attention. "Hmmm?" She mused as she turned to face the tealette fully, moving in closer by taking a few small steps towards her; the rather bold and assertive action causing Miku to shuffle backwards in response, all the way until her back was gently pressed up against the wall of the elevator… right where the pinkette wanted her. "A woman like me?" She asked amusedly as she leaned in closer to the shorter woman. "What do you mean by that?" She questioned, her silky voice sounding quite a bit more seductive than she really meant it to.

"W-well…" Miku started shakily, the closeness of the older woman effortlessly making her feel nervous just as it always did. Though she hadn't exactly lost her confidence from earlier; Luka had merely made it falter for a moment by entering her personal space so boldly, and so after a second of silence, the tealette had recovered enough to say what she actually thought. "It's just that I wasn't expecting someone so young, someone so… well… so gorgeous to be honest…" She revealed, her heart pounding in her chest at not only having just called her boss gorgeous, but also from what she was deliberating about saying next. "And well… someone so… you know… so… umm…"

But before she could muster up the courage to say sexy, the elevator doors finally opened after the long vertical journey, leaving Miku feeling more than a little glad that their arrival at Crypton's floor had stopped her from speaking any further. Thinking about it now, it could have been pretty bad if she'd gone ahead with what she wanted to say; potentially from Luka not taking the comment well, or the much more probable scenario being that she would've most likely taken it too well instead.

However, despite the doors opening right beside her, Luka had barely moved away at all; instead just turning at the neck in order to face the purple haired man who was standing only a foot away, smiling at him whilst wearing the faintest of blushes on her cheeks. "Megurine-san, what have I told you about getting in other people's personal space before?" Gakupo playfully scolded the pinkette once he noticed just how close the two women were, or more specifically, just how close Luka was to Miku by the looks of things.

"Ara ara... my apologies Kamui-san." She apologised only semi-seriously as she took a small step back from the younger woman. "But you know I can't help it; I'm a people person, through and through." She offered as a justification, before turning back to face the tealette. "Sorry about that." She half-heartedly, and rather playfully apologised, flashing Miku a knowing grin before speaking once more. "You didn't mind though, did you Hatsune-san?" She half asked, half stated; knowing full well that whilst the younger woman might have been a bit nervous or embarrassed by it, Miku certainly didn't hate having her so close.

Gakupo watched as the shorter of the two women shook her head somewhat apprehensively. "Anyway, I've got these reports for you to look over, Megurine-san." He stated with a much more professional tone than his pink haired superior as he held out a stack of papers, essentially forcing Luka to finally break away from the tealette in order to take them from him. "Oh, and that client finally got back to me as well. They can do a meeting this afternoon… if that works for you?"

"Oh, that's good… though the timing isn't really ideal… but it's probably best to cater to them, don't you think?" She asked Gakupo, getting a serious looking nod in return as he too knew just how important this client was to Crypton. "It'll get in the way of the end of week meetings for new staff members though… but I'm sure we can figure something out that will give me enough time to get everything done." She said more to herself than the others as she started working on a new schedule for the day in the back of her mind; taking a few moments to do so before flashing the purple haired man a short, professional looking smile, as well as bowing shallowly to let him know that she was both thankful of the work he had done for her, and that she no longer needed him around; the action soon resulting in just pink and teal being left mostly alone at the entrance to the office once again. "So… what were you going to say before we were interrupted?"

Miku blushed involuntarily; she hadn't exactly been expecting the pinkette to bring the matter back up again. "I… err... it's… it's n-nothing, really." She stuttered in response; there was no way she could just call her boss sexy now that they were no longer alone.

Luka could tell that it might have been inappropriate by her employee's rather dismissive answer, and so as much as she would have liked to have heard what had been on Miku's mind, the older woman decided that it was best not to push any further. "Okay then. Well… you have a productive, and beyond all, an excellent day at work, Hatsune-san." She decided to go with instead, finding the way the shorter woman visibly relaxed after being let off the hook to be quite amusing.

"You too Megurine-san!" Miku echoed her boss' statement enthusiastically, walking beside her as they made their way to their respective working spaces at the far end of the office. "I'll try my best today!" She felt the need to add; wanting to let the older woman know just how committed she was to her job.

Luka couldn't help but smile at the tealette's positive attitude; even if she already knew just how hard working and dedicated she already was, it was still nice to see Miku's enthusiasm first hand. "Fantastic! Well, don't let me keep you from your work." She joked once they arrived at Miku's cubicle, letting the younger woman enter and set down her bag as she watched from the entrance.

With her back turned to her like it was, Luka wasted no time in sneaking in some more looks of her employee's incredible form; feeling rather conflicted by the need to be more discreet now that they were around other people, but also wanting to take in as much of the rare rear angle as possible whilst she had the chance; finding the way Miku's butt looked with the help of a pair of heels to be simply stunning. "Oh… and Hatsune-san…" She started lowly just as Miku was beginning to turn back towards her, leaning in slightly once the younger woman was fully facing her again. "I'm really looking forward to our meeting later." She whispered in a voice that was practically dripping with seductive and almost hungry undertones, took a second to enjoy Miku's strong reaction to her words, and then finally took her leave; grinning to herself as she headed off to her own office; satisfied in the knowledge that she had left a speechless and bright red tealette standing breathless in her cubicle.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Teal eyes glanced over to the bottom right hand corner of the computer monitor in front of them; the small section of pixels letting Miku know that it had not long passed four o'clock… much earlier than she would've guessed given what her now rather sore feet were telling her from under the desk. "Not long now…" She spurred herself on in a whisper. "Just a couple hours until I'm home and I can finally get these shoes off." She added in a thought, before checking the time once again in the hopes that she had misread it before.

Though, whilst it wasn't quite quitting time just yet, it wasn't exactly that far off… and yet, despite having less than an hour left to go, Miku was seriously starting to worry that her meeting with her pink haired boss might have been forgotten; a real concern to the tealette as she hadn't been able to stop thinking it about all day… or more specifically, what Luka had said earlier.

"I'm really looking forward to our meeting later." Miku recalled the pinkette's words for the hundredth time today, taking a moment to have yet another go at making sense of them. On their own they didn't really mean all that much, and if her boss had said them in a more plain and simple manner, then Miku figured she wouldn't have given them much of a second thought. But, it was the tone Luka had used; uttering each word so seductively, and the way she made sure that they were just for her; leaning in and whispering them so lowly that gave the whole thing extra meaning to the tealette… or at least she thought it did.

The tealette couldn't tell for sure; was Luka flirting with her, or was that just the pinkette's personality… just Luka being Luka? She was like this to some extent with everyone, but with her - and her alone it seemed - Luka seemed to turn it up a few notches; past the point of being touchy feely and overly friendly, and into flirty and even downright predatory territory. "Maybe… maybe Luka…" Miku had started to think, but the sound of the pinkette in question's voice from the across the office roused her from her thoughts, prompting her to pull up some work on her computer so she would at least look busy if her boss happened to pay her a visit.

Luka had emerged from Gakupo's office, and after exchanging a few more words with the purple haired man, she finally pulled the door closed softly before making her way back in the direction of her own office. Along the way, she made sure to dutifully check-up on a random assortment of new and old staff alike; meandering through the office to make sure no corner was left unsupervised; and therefore prone to slacking. It wasn't long though before she eventually arrived at Miku's cubicle, glad to see the teal haired young woman working hard on some editing; one of the newer tasks her group had been assigned this week… and one that the tealette seemed to be getting along with swimmingly based on the short period of observation Luka allowed herself before finally announcing her presence. "Good afternoon, Hatsune-san."

Whilst the tealette had been tracking the older woman's position based on the sound of her voice, she had wanted to make sure she was hard at work if Luka arrived, and therefore had her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. So it had still been quite the surprise to hear the pinkette's soft voice behind her after having audibly lost track of her around a minute ago. "Ahh... G-good afternoon." Miku greeted her boss in return; stuttering a little after having been caught off-guard by the pinkette.

Luka couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself at the tealette's reaction; finding the way she had almost jumped out of her seat to be rather amusing. "Ahh, sorry Hatsune-san… I was just coming over to ask if you wouldn't mind doing our meeting now." She quickly apologised before getting straight down to business. "I know it's a little early, but today's schedule has been pretty hectic. Our American clients were supposed to be here over an hour ago, but it seems that they've gotten a bit lost after arriving in Tokyo." She explained the situation to the younger woman, getting a series of attentive nods in response. "I just got off of a call with them and Kamui-san, and it seems like they should make it here within the next thirty minutes. So I was thinking it would be best if we did your meeting now before we miss our chance, hmm?"

Miku was admittedly a little nervous; both from the fact that their meeting was about to happen sooner than anticipated, but also simply at the thought of being alone with Luka once again; especially considering what had happened last Friday, and what her pink haired boss had so seductively said this morning. "I… err… yeah, that's not a problem with me." The tealette faltered for a moment, feeling just a tad overwhelmed before she caught herself and composed her thoughts.

With that, she saved and closed her work, before getting up from her desk and walking with Luka much like she had done a week ago. Whilst it was only a short walk to her boss' office, it certainly wasn't an easy one; her sore feet and general uneasiness in heels making it rather difficult for Miku. Though, while it had taken a little longer given her slower pace, she did eventually make it to her destination; stepping into the pinkette's office for the second time in her life as Luka closed, and then locked the door behind them just as before.

"Well then Miku…" Luka began as she made her way over to her chair, switching back to first names practically the moment they were in private. "Let's see here…" She said in a drawn out manner, stalling for time as she pulled up her notes on her computer; not quite as prepared as she would have liked to have been given their impromptu meeting. "Actually, now that we've got a moment before we get started properly, I just wanted to ask how you were… not from a work perspective, more just… personally." Luka half stated, half asked as she continued to work on the computer in the background; the request being partly so she would have enough time to sort everything out, but also out of genuine interest in how the younger woman was.

Miku didn't exactly mind; finding that the older woman's personal interest in her only served to lighten the already friendly mood between them. "I'm doing fine… great actually." She responded enthusiastically, taking a moment to think about her current personal state before once again speaking. "But I'm honestly looking forward to the weekend; I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit tired." She revealed, thinking more so of her sore feet as she spoke rather than just general tiredness or fatigue, though those were both present to a small degree as well given that it was Friday after all.

"I must say I'm starting to feel a bit tired myself." Luka replied as she finished up on the computer, now giving the younger woman her full attention compared to the fifty-fifty spilt from just a moment ago. "Though it's nothing a nice lie-in can't fix… there's nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning after a long week of work, don't you think?" She casually asked, getting a both a nod, and a strong look of agreement from the shorter woman in response; clearly the idea sounded just as good to Miku as it did to her.

Though, as much as she would have liked to just chat with Miku about nothing in particular, now that she was fully ready, and that they were on the clock, Luka felt it best to steer the conversation back in the direction of work. "Well then, let's start with the new stuff." She began, deciding to keep the tone light hearted to avoid any chance of a boring, tedious meeting. "How have you been finding what we covered on Monday?"

"I'm doing pretty well with all the new tasks... well…" Miku paused just as soon as she had started; earning a look from the pinkette that told her to continue, and to not be afraid to speak her mind as she did so. "To be honest… I'm still a little nervous taking phone calls…" She admitted, feeling slightly worried as she noticed Luka type something; presumably a note on her file. "B-but I have no problems with emails, and editing actually feels pretty natural to me… easy almost!" Miku felt the need to explain her stronger points in a rather animated way; hoping to outweigh the negative that her innate shyness had caused.

Upon noticing her employee's concern, the pinkette promptly put her hands up in front of her, gesturing to the younger woman that everything was okay. "Hey, no need to worry; I was just making a note for future reference, but it's nothing bad." She began to explain, though the tealette's still worried facial expression prompted her to go on. "I keep track of the little things like that so I can figure out how to get the best out my employees. I wouldn't want people doing things that make them uncomfortable, and therefore not as productive…" She explained, knowing full well that no two people were the same, and that each had different strengths and weaknesses; the unique combinations of which allowed for their roles to become more and more specialized as their carers progressed; far better than having everyone be able to do everything equally mediocrely.

"… Especially if we can have them doing something that they're much better at instead." She continued after her brief pause to think. "Like how you mentioned the editing. You clearly took to it well on Monday; far better than the rest of the group did, that's for sure. And then from what I briefly saw today as well; it would make a lot of sense to encourage you down the path to becoming an editor; not only getting you away from working on the phones, but also allowing you to do more of something that you actually enjoy." Luka lengthily explained, taking a breath as the tealette took what she had to say on board.

She gave her employee a few moments to think it over; glad to see Miku's worried expression not only vanish, but also be replaced with one of pleased enlightenment at the way she had reframed a negative she was clearly self-conscious about, into more of a potentially positive aspect. "Though it will take a bit more time and data yet before we can accurately figure out what everyone will be best at, but in the mean time I'll try to change things around so you have to take as few calls as possible, okay?" She suggested sweetly, earning a thankful look and affirming nod from the shorter woman opposite her. "Great. So now that's the new tasks all sorted, how do you think your second week went in general?" She asked professionally, pausing for a second before going a little more in depth. "Do you feel you've improved from last week? Perhaps gotten a bit more confident with the job, for example."

Miku did honestly feel more sure of herself already; the extra week of working in the real world since Luka last asked her a similar question was already having a rather noticeable effect on her self-confidence. "I think I'm doing quite well actually." She stared optimistically, before promptly remembering what her boss had had to say about her last Friday. "But I can't imagine I'm doing better than last week… I'd say I'm matching my performance at best." She offered still rather conservatively; whilst her confidence had grown a bit, she definitely didn't want to sound cocky by overestimating her performance, only to then be told otherwise by the pinkette.

Luka was glad not to hear the same pessimistic tone that the tealette had used last week, but was even more pleased considering the good news she had for her. "Actually, you're performing even better than last week; absolutely smashing all of our targets for you and not once failing to exceed a daily quota by less than sixty percent." She revealed, checking her notes again just to make sure the almost unbelievable numbers were actually correct. "At this rate you'll easily make employee of the month… all the more impressive when you consider that never has a new hire earned that title in their first month before." She praised enthusiastically, smiling brightly at the shorter woman as she spoke. "If you keep this up, then I can guarantee you that you'll get it sweetie."

Miku rather guiltily loved it when Luka would compliment her looks, but she also really did love to be told she was doing so well at her job. It felt great for her talents and hard work to be noticed, especially as the woman noticing them was not only her boss, but also the woman she was crushing on. "Ahh, thank you… I'll keep trying my best." She replied, unable to stop herself from smiling like an idiot at what Luka had just told her.

Luka really loved Miku's genuine, unrestrained smile, especially as she had been the one to cause it. "That's great to hear, though I had already guessed you would; it's just in your nature to work hard… am I right?" She asked with a smile as bright as the younger woman's, getting a determined nod from her in return. "I thought so. You know, looking at you now… you honestly remind me a lot of my younger self, Miku. I was just like you when I first started here, and it's those key values that we share that helped me get where I am today… I… I think you have a really great future ahead of you sweetie." She offered incredibly sincerely, loving the way a faint blush was now accompanying Miku's elated smile from her words of encouragement.

They enjoyed a moment of comfortable silence together, simply starting back at each other with unrestrainable grins parting both of their faces. Though as sweet as the moment was, Luka knew that they still had more to cover, and so gave Miku a little nod - one that sought to affirm everything she had just told the younger woman; not wanting there to be any doubt that every word that had just left her lips had been genuine - before eventually moving on with their afternoon meeting. "Anyway, aside from all the good; which I'm sure we could spend all day trying to cover, do you have any negatives from your second week at all?"

The pinkette's more professional sounding tone snapped Miku from her Luka induced reverie; requiring her to take a few seconds just to compose herself and process the question. "I… hmm… I can't think of anything off the top of my head." She replied rather slowly; dragging out her words just a smidge in order to give her more time to think. "No… I don't think I have any complaints. The work is great, the people are great… everything is going better than I ever imagined; I feel so lucky to have a job this awesome to be honest."

"Awesome." She parroted back with a giggle; Miku's word choice having amused her somewhat. "A happy employee means that I'm doing my job right." She added before making a quick note on her computer, though something on her screen seemed to catch her attention, prompting her to turn back to the younger woman with a rather serious expression on her face. "But I did want to check on the issue you were having last week." She started very professionally, trying to frame her upcoming question in such a way that made it seem like it was just part of the job to her, rather than how she thurthfully felt about it. "How are your shoulders? Have they recovered at all from last week, or has the pain come back?"

Miku could have sworn that she saw a glimmer of hope in the older woman's eyes as she asked, but before she could really pin it down for sure, the look had vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. "M-my shoulders? They're pretty much good I think… even though I've only had my new chair since yesterday, as it's so comfortable and supportive I already feel much better." She replied, unable to shake the feeling that her words had brought an almost imperceptible look of disappointment to Luka's face. But, before she could think about it too much, a thought related to their conversation popped into her head, prompting her to curiously ask. "Umm… about my new chair? A few people were pretty surprised to see it; and all of them made a comment about the brand or the price." She said a little nervously, actively deciding to not be too questioning in her delivery.

A faint blush painted the older woman's cheeks at the mention of her rather expensive purchase; the feeling of being caught red handed causing Luka to scratch the back of her head out of mild nervousness. "Ahh yes… well… you see… that's because it wasn't exactly cheap." She explained rather sheepishly, earning a curious look from Miku at both what she had said, but probably more simply from the way she was acting so nervously. "Honestly… I went quite a bit further for you than I normally would for an employee." She admitted, the tealette no longer looking at her with curiosity, but instead with a questioning, almost unbelieving stare. "You're… you're my favourite employee Miku… and not just from your new group either; you're easily my favourite out of any employee I've ever had." She revealed sincerely, the surprising news making the tealette blush a deep pink out of embarrassment. "And so that's why I went overboard on your chair; I want to do everything I can to keep you around." Luka added in explanation, sounding really quite serious. And it was with that same concerned and invested tone that the pinkette tried again; using the pretence of wanting to help her favourite employee in the hopes of finally getting some more contact with the younger woman. "So please, don't keep it to yourself if your shoulders are still hurting… even if there's only a little bit of pain left, I really wouldn't mind giving you another massage."

Miku felt a little guilty about having decline after everything her boss had just said, but as her back and shoulders weren't in any pain at all, there really wasn't a need for a massage. "I appreciate the offer Luka, but I really am fine… honestly." She offered as politely as possible, though from a mixture of guilt at having to say no, and not even really considering that her next words could even have a potential consequence, Miku felt the need to carry on talking. "The only thing that's sore are my feet. I'm not really used to wearing shoes like this to be honest." She revealed jokingly, laughing at herself for a second. But, as she looked back up and refocused on Luka, she was met with an expression that she couldn't quite explain.

Luka was deep in thought, seemingly struggling with something rather important; so much so that it was clearly visible on her face. "Is it okay to even propose such a thing?" She asked herself internally. She wasn't sure if it would be too much, or if it would cross some unspoken line, but there was one thing that she did know for sure... she wanted more contact with Miku. And whilst it definitely wasn't what she had in mind going into their meeting, Luka knew that what she was about to suggest could definitely have certain advantages over a simple shoulder massage. "Really!? W-well then I practically have to give you a foot massage then." She blurted out despite having assessed the topic as a risky thing to suggest; just the mere mention of it having already painted a look of shock on the younger woman's face. "It was me who suggested that you wear heels, and so if they've caused you pain then I should be the one to deal with it." Her justification was a little weak, but at least Luka was determined in her delivery.

Before the dumbfounded younger woman had time to answer, Luka leaned over her desk to inspect Miku's footwear more attentively. "Those look brand new; like they haven't even been broken in yet?" She stated, raising the tone of her voice near the end to form her observation into a question, getting a meek nod from Miku in return. "That alone is bad enough, but as I'm guessing you don't wear heels very often, then that could end up being quite a painful combination, right?"

Teal twin-tails bobbed as Miku nodded in confirmation. "Y-yeah… I think I've only worn heels once before, but they weren't anything like these." She admitted sheepishly, the look of concern growing on her boss' face. "I… I went and bought these after you mentioned it yesterday, so this is my first time wearing them."

Luka honestly felt pretty bad for her, especially as this situation would never have occurred if she hadn't said anything. "Oh dear, you really should have started with a lower heel and worked your way up gradually." She said as supportively as possible, and whilst the advice was a day too late, Miku still nodded graciously in response. "I can only imagine how much pain you must be in, what with having no experience or resistance." She offered sympathetically, getting a sheepish nod and a slight wince of discomfort from the woman across from her; prompting her to bring up her solution once again. "Let me massage your feet for you, it's the least I can do. Please, let me help you with the pain, Miku." She practically pleaded with the tealette; getting up from her chair once she saw that Miku was seriously considering it; seemingly on the fence about the whole situation. "Why don't you come over here, sit in my comfy chair, and let me take care of you sweetie?"

Miku was reluctant about accepting her boss' tempting offer, but she couldn't deny that the pain was pretty bad, and getting worse with every moment it felt like. Then there was the fact that she would still have to make the journey home in her heels, and with a fair amount of walking to contend with; having already sore feet would make that practically unbearable. And so, whilst it may have been a very unprofessional and peculiar situation she found herself in, the pain and thoughts of just how much worse it could get won out against her rationality; her body obeying for her as she stood up and hobbled her way over to Luka's chair, hissing in pain with each step of the short walk around to the other side of the desk.

Luka felt awful; maybe she had laid it on too thick yesterday… maybe Miku thought she had to match her, despite the fact that she had years of experience in heels, compared to Miku's none. "Oh, you poor thing." She whispered sympathetically as she helped the younger woman down into her chair, before dropping to her knees in front of her employee. "You just relax… I'll do my best to ease the pain, sweetheart." She said in a soft, comforting tone as she reached out for Miku's foot.

Whilst the pain and her body acting out of instinct had gotten her this far, Miku's rational side kicked back in as she watched Luka lower herself to the floor; the sight sparking a flood of thoughts and concerns to fill her mind in an instant. "Wait!" She called out as one particularly embarrassing thing came to mind; feeling the need to address it before the pinkette went any further. "It… it's near the end of the day, my feet… they'll probably smell; you really don't have to do this for me Lu…" She had started, but her boss' actions soon put a stop to her hastily spoken concerns.

Without a single word Luka simply smiled, took the tealette gently by the ankle, and scooted in a bit closer before carefully removing her shoe and bringing Miku's now bare foot up to her face. She took a moment to inspect the sore appendage, before finally leaning in almost casually and stopping when her nose was only an inch away from her toes, hesitating for a moment before beginning to sniff Miku's foot rather intently; the action succeeding in making her blush just a little, whilst at the same time turning the tealette's face a deep shade of red. "It's okay sweetheart… they smell fine, don't worry about it." She said after a good few seconds of progressively deeper inhales; finding herself to be strangely enjoying the subtle new aroma. "Just relax and let me take care of these for you."

Miku bit her lip. This all felt so wrong; her senior… her boss… the woman she had a crush on, she had lowered herself to the floor in front of her so casually… almost submissively even, and so brazenly taken her foot and sniffed it. "How did I find myself in this situation?" She asked herself incredulously as she looked down on the beautiful and elegant pinkette on her knees before her. "And why is something so taboo making my heart race like this…?" She pondered, the hammering rhythm in her chest rapidly becoming too strong to ignore. "Why… why is this so exciting… even… even kinda arousing?"

The tealette shook her head in disbelief; she shouldn't be thinking like that. In fact, she shouldn't even be letting Luka do this at all. "Lu…" Though just as she opened her mouth to protest, the pinkette's idle hands finally began to massage her sore little feet; rubbing them firmly and taking both her pain and worries away in an instant… she had almost forgotten just how good Luka was with her hands.

Luka had since brought the younger woman's foot down into a more comfortable position for the both of them, but she had still kept it reasonably close in order to more thoroughly inspect the damage. It was red on along both sides, but the colour was more pronounced near where her toes had been rubbing against the brand new shoe. Miku's heel was also a similar shade of red, and the arch of her foot was pretty tightly strung after having been in such an unfamiliar positon all day as well. "It looks like your shoes really did a number on your feet, sweetie." She remarked as she decided to start on the arch; wanting to loosen that up first in order to make the rest of the massage easier on the poor tealette. "Just let me know if it hurts, or if you want me to get a certain spot, okay?" She instructed softly, looking up at the younger woman with a concerned, caring expression.

Miku was glad to have such a compassionate boss; she couldn't imagine that there were many people who would willingly do this for an employee. "O-okay… right there feels great for now." She replied, relaxing back into her boss' luxurious chair as she spoke. "It… it feels like relief."

With nothing else to do but sit back and enjoy Luka's massage, the tealette did just that; greatly appreciating and enjoying the feeling of the older woman's hands so skilfully repairing the damage she had sustained throughout the day. Though what stood out to her more than the way Luka's thumbs would dig into her sole satisfyingly, or the way she would carefully caress each and every toe individually, was the fact that Luka really did seem quite happy to do this for her. As she watched from her elevated position, not only could she not see any hint of resentment or sign that the pinkette was forcing herself to do this for her, but Luka actually seemed happy… almost excited to be able to make her feel good; dutifully massaging away with a bright smile on her face.

Soon enough, after a few minutes of hard work from her boss, and a lot of pleasurable touches payed to her left foot, Luka gently placed the now thoroughly massaged foot in her lap and immediately reached out for the neglected one, taking off its shoe and quickly getting to work. Though, something sparked within the tealette at the first touch of her oversensitive foot; the feeling of Luka's hands gliding all over her newly exposed appendage bringing back the hot and almost uncontrollable feeling from when Luka had voluntarily smelled them before. Strangely, she had rather enjoyed the unexpected gesture, and now with her right foot freshly on display, Miku felt a sudden and almost overwhelming urge to mention it again; practically unable to stop herself from asking. "Umm… a-are you sure that one doesn't smell t-too?"

Luka's eyes darkened, her signature seductive smirk spreading its way across her lips… it seemed she was hoping Miku would bring the topic up again. "Yes… but…" She said lowly, maintaining intense eye contact as she nodded slowly, her face blushing slightly in anticipation of what she was planning to do. "Here… let me prove to you that it doesn't." Luka offered in a whisper, before bringing her foot up to her face much like before, though instead of stopping an inch away as she did with the left, she instead placed Miku's right foot directly on her face; her nose in her toes, and her lips pressing against the ball of her foot gently. She held it there fairly firmly; using both hands to prevent the tealette from reflexively pulling it away, and allowing her to take multiple deep sniffs from between her toes, her eyes fluttering closed at the unique variety of Miku's normal scent that she knew and loved already.

Miku's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates; simply not believing the picture in front of her. Luka had her face pressed into her still slightly sweaty foot; her incredibly soft lips against her warm skin, and her hot breath spilling out all over her sole as she exhaled through her mouth shakily. And what's more… her boss seemed to be enjoying herself; at least Miku thought so. Whilst she couldn't fully see her face - courtesy of her foot covering up everything under Luka's eyes - she could still tell that the older woman was smiling by the way her eyes were scrunched up, and also by the feeling of the subtle curve of her lips against her foot. "Ahh… Lu… ka…?" She asked incredulously, prompting the pinkette to confidently meet with her eyes as she took another deep sniff. "Wha…?"

Luka honestly wasn't quite sure what she was doing… all she knew for sure was that she had almost desperately wanted some more contact with Miku, and yet despite not even thinking she had a thing for feet, the whole situation was quickly becoming rather arousing to the pink haired woman. "Nnnn… showing you that you have nothing to worry about, sweetheart." She offered nonchalantly, making sure to exaggerate the movement of her lips as she spoke, succeeding in teasingly brushing them against the impossibly soft skin with each and every syllable.

Miku visibly flinched at the ticklish sensation, unable to stop her toes from scrunching against Luka's face embarrassingly; it had just felt too good to contain her reaction. Be it the way Luka's lips brushed against her skin so slowly and deliberately; or the feeling of the brief little flashes of hot wetness as her tongue would catch the ball of her foot as she spoke… Miku found herself rather guiltily enjoying every word that had just left the older woman's lips. "Ahh… I see…" She offered back nervously, as whilst she may have liked the new and exciting sensations, Miku still felt the need to question her boss on her odd behaviour. "But… did you really have to do _that_ to prove it? Wasn't that embarrassing or… or unpleasant for you?" She decided to add, not wanting to offend or make her boss uncomfortable by insinuating that she herself was weirded out by her behaviour, instead framing her question as if it was a problem for Luka.

Luka gave the younger woman's toes one last little affectionate nuzzle before finally pulling back, smiling up at Miku sweetly with quite the dark blush on her own cheeks. "M-maybe a little embarrassing, but certainly not unpleasant." She admitted casually, trying to play the rather bizarre situation down a bit. "If anything, your feet smell just a little sweet… exactly what I'd expect from someone like you." She jokingly complimented as she worked Miku's right foot between her fingers, before deciding that now was as good a time as any to move on with the next stage of her hastily conceived, and rather lust influenced plan. "Say, I bet your legs are sore as well. I… I can give your calves a little massage too if you'd like?" She offered, though without waiting for an answer one of her hands impatiently, and with a mind of its own, made its way up to Miku's calf; long pink fingernails lightly scraping at her pale legs. "I can feel the tension already."

Whilst Miku knew that some of the tightness in her calves had indeed come from wearing heels, the majority of the tealette's tension was a product of the crazy situation she found herself in. Here she was with Luka on the floor below her, with her hand boldly climbing up her leg, and just after she had intently and lengthily sniffed her foot no less. Though what was worse was that despite how inappropriate and borderline insane this all was, Miku was sure that the beginnings of arousal were starting to form in her panties because of it all… though how could they not; the woman who she had a crush on was practically throwing herself at her it seemed; her daring hands all over her feet and legs satisfyingly. But, it was for precisely that reason why the tealette knew she had to protest. "I dunno… should we really be doing… something like that?" She had tried to sound dismissive, yet her refusal had instead come out as a half-hearted question; seemingly rather telling of her current mental state.

Luka took the hesitation and less than convincing response as a sign to go a step further; no longer teasing her with her fingernails, but instead sliding her whole hand along the tealette's calf gently. "Sure… I see nothing wrong with this." She lied; even with her lust addled brain, Luka could very clearly see that this was incredibly unprofessional, but with her switch flipped the way it currently was, there was no way she could back out now… or at least she simply didn't want to. "I'm just helping out my favourite employee." She added as she gently squeezed the supple skin beneath her fingers, glad to hear Miku moan softly at the light touch. "See, you clearly need it… and I'm more than happy to help… how about it sweetie?"

Miku bit her lip with restrained want. Her boss' touch had felt amazing; not just from the relief of the tightly stung muscle being massaged, but also because Luka's delicate, feminine hands on her body felt insanely good. "I'm sorry Kaito…" She apologized internally. "Just this far… I promise…" She went on, though the next, more forceful squeeze quickly made her forget her guilt somewhat, especially if she lied to herself that this really was just a massage, despite all the evidence that both Luka and herself were treating it very differently. "Unn, but… but just my calves, okay?" She checked with the older woman a tad breathlessly.

Luka eyes briefly widened in disbelief at Miku's acceptance of her offer; glad that the tealette hadn't seemed to notice her look of surprise before she was able to quickly compose herself. "O-of course…" She stuttered in reply; the intensity of the situation even starting to get to the more mature and normally composed pinkette. "Just sit back and enjoy it sweetie." She instructed as she scooted in a little closer, putting Miku's legs at a more comfortable reach for her arms, before finally starting to massage them properly. She quickly decided that she wasn't going to hold back; opting for a firm and more intense deep tissue massage rather than more gentle caresses; she wanted to make Miku feel as good as possible… wanted to hear the tealette moan at her touches… but most of all, she wanted to make Miku lose her rationally just like she was beginning to; wanting to see just how far things might end up going between them as a result.

For the next few minutes the pinkette's office was filled with nothing but Miku's soft moans, the subtle sounds of Luka's hands ardently exploring every inch of her employee's legs below her knees, and the occasional instruction from the tealette; telling her just where she wanted to be touched next. Whilst she greatly enjoyed massaging, caressing, and simply unrestrainedly touching the shorter woman's incredible legs, Luka still made sure to give a fair portion of time and attention to the reason they found themselves here in the first place; alternating between Miku's calves and her feet - particularly the more neglected of the two appendages - every thirty seconds or so, or whenever Miku would shyly direct her hands to an area of her choosing.

Though, it wasn't much longer before Luka wanted even more, and as she could see that she had basically turned Miku into putty under her skilful and unrelenting hands; the combination of her desire for the beautiful woman above her, and said woman's much looser and laid back demeanour prompted her to take things a little further. She took her hand that was already high up on the tealette's calf and proceeded to slide it up a little further, moving it up past the back of her knee before it eventually snuck its way up to the back of Miku's thigh. She didn't announce the gesture, nor did she ask permission before doing so, which was why she decided not to go all out; instead using a very gentle and almost explorative touch as she waited for her employee's response; effectively both asking for approval, and teasing herself in the process by going so slow.

Miku gasped. Luka's hands were getting dangerously high on her leg… and whilst they felt positively electric on her skin, she knew that she absolutely could not do this; not to Kaito… especially not after what he had said this morning. "L-Luka… what… umm… what are you doing?"

"The muscles back here also help when walking in heels… and they can get tight too." She explained rapidly; wanting to give Miku a reason for her to continue after getting a less than ideal response from her just now. "I'm… I'm just helping you out, Miku…" She hesitantly suggested, and after not getting a response one way or the other; Miku simply looking down at her with a mixture of concern and confusion, but also interest and excitement, Luka decided to push for a little more; caressing the skin just before the hem of Miku's flattering black dress. "Or… does it… not feel good?" She asked with a mock pout, wanting to give herself every chance of winning over the flustered tealette.

Miku's breath hitched at the risky touch; it did feel good… far too good; so much so that from just a single touch, she could already feel herself becoming more shamefully aroused… a problem in more ways than just the obvious one. If Luka were to continue her advances she would almost certainly have to move even closer; but what if she was then able to smell the arousal collecting in her underwear… what if she got so close that she'd be able to see up her rather short dress and catch a glimpse of the ever growing damp spot on her panties? If this was just a massage to Luka, then her discovering the evidence of her arousal in one way or another would be mortifying, let alone incredibly unprofessional on her part to let the woman she had a crush on get her to this state unknowingly. "Ahh… it… it does feel g-good… but… I don't think… nnng… we should… ahhh…"

Miku had started to protest, but after her shy, breathy admission that it did indeed feel good, Luka simply couldn't help herself anymore; she wanted Miku so badly, and so squeezed her thigh possessively, cutting the younger woman off with a breathless moan. "Please Miku… let me help you. I want… I want to make you feel good sweetheart." She practically pleaded, stroking her thigh more and more unrestrainedly; the feeling of the impossibly soft and now incredibly hot skin under her fingers waking something within her that she wasn't even aware of; pushing her to boldly slip her hand underneath Miku's dress and up along the back of her thigh; the urge to experience every inch of her beautiful employee completely overtaking her.

But right at that moment, before she, or her hand could go too far, the sound of the intercom system buzzing to life startled the both of them, shortly followed by Gakupo's voice coming through the speaker built into her desk. "Sorry to bother you Megurine-san, but the guests have arrived and are currently waiting for you. I told them that I'd let you have your meeting with Hatsune-san, but you've gone over by about ten minutes already. So I felt it best to check up on you as they seem to be getting a little impatient."

Luka blushed a deep crimson at the startling sound of Gakupo's voice; the noise both snapping her back to reality, and causing her to hastily let go of Miku almost as if her skin had burned her. "I… I…" She mumbled to herself, hardly believing just where she had been; desperately kneeling on the floor in front of the younger woman, with her hands running all over her lower body greedily… to say she had gotten carried away would be an understatement. She quickly stood up and put some distance between herself and the other woman, before shakily reaching out for the intercom button on her desk; holding it down as she begun to speak. "Th-thank you K-Kamui-san." She nervously stuttered, taking a second just to breathe in the hopes of composing herself a bit. "I'll be two minutes, and then I'll be right out."

Miku simply watched from her seated position, she too sporting a dark red blush at both the feeling of being caught red-handed, and at the thought of what almost could've happened. Luka had gone too far, but she hadn't been able to stop her; not because Luka was too strong or persuasive - though it didn't help that she was both of those things - but because deep down, Miku hadn't wanted it to stop. And so, never had the tealette been more glad of an unexpected interruption in her whole life; the sound of Gakupo's voice stopping her from doing something she knew she would regret; almost as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her and brought her back to her senses suddenly. "I… err…" She mumbled dumbfoundedly, not quite knowing what to say after such an abrupt end to such an intense situation.

The pinkette was more than a little panicked; not only had she gotten utterly carried away with Miku, but in doing so she had completely forgotten about her incredibly important meeting; one that she needed to be in top form for, not the confused, rushed, and still rather aroused mess that she was now. "Umm… yeah…" She nervously faltered, pausing for a moment to try and calm down, quickly coming to the conclusion that it would be best to deal with the present situation with Miku first, turning to her with a serious and practically apologetic look on her face. "Sorry for keeping you so long, I… I think I got a little carried away there… and… I umm… sorry about _that_ too…"

Miku had never seen this side of her boss before; she seemed rather embarrassed and almost… regretful, the sight making the tealette want to do nothing more than to put Luka at ease. "It's okay… I… umm… I think I did too…" She admitted in such a way as to not directly incriminate herself, before hastily grabbing her shoes and slipping them back on; glad to find the feeling much more tolerable than before the massage. "It… it felt great… and my feet feel a lot better too, thanks to you."

Luka's heartbeat slowed down considerably at the shorter woman's words; relived that Miku not only wasn't having a negative reaction, but that she was actually taking the whole thing well and even still thanking her and being courteous despite just how inappropriate she had been with her. "I… I'm glad to hear that, I was happy to do it… happy to help you out." She offered in response, Miku's unexpectedly positive reaction prompting her to say a little more than she really should have, especially given the circumstances. "Anytime sweetie, just let me know."

Miku nodded in acceptance, but on the inside she made a mental note that it would probably be best not to say anything to Luka even if she did have more pain in the future; not if what just happened between them was likely to be the outcome again. It had honestly been amazing, but Miku could clearly see that it could've very quickly escalated into something dangerous had they not been stopped before then. "I… I'll be sure to keep that in mind." She said a tad reluctantly before finally making her way over to the door. "Umm… well… good luck with your meeting. Sorry for putting you behind."

The pinkette followed Miku over, wanting to get the door for her. "It's not your fault, even I didn't know exactly when they were coming; so don't you worry about that." She dismissed politely, unlocking the door but still holding it closed, the gesture causing Miku to look up at her out of confusion. "The meeting will probably take an hour, which means I won't get to see you before the end of the day, so I'll say goodbye now while I still have a chance." She explained; glad to see the tealette's expression soften as she spoke. "Have a good weekend, Miku."

Miku echoed the statement to her boss, smiling up at her with a cute, nervous awkwardness which only served to put a similar smile on Luka's face as she opened the door for her. With that, she gave the pinkette one last nod before stepping out into the glass fronted office, bowed in apology to the purple haired man sitting on the empty desk, and tried her best not to blush as she quickly traversed the main office back to her own desk, moving to the relative seclusion of her cubicle as fast as she had gone all day, despite the hindering heels on her freshly massaged feet.

Needless to say, Miku didn't get much done during the last half hour of her second Friday at Crypton; she had far too much on her mind instead.

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 **Apologies again for the fairly abrupt ending, I was a bit short on time this month and the word count was getting high again, but hopefully the end doesn't seem too rushed.**

 **I know I always ask for reviews, but your input would be even more appreciated for this chapter than the others. I toned down the foot fetish scene from what I had originally planned to write for multiple reasons, but one of them was so I could gauge the audience's reaction with something less intense first. So I'd really like to know what people thought of the foot fetish scene in particular, that way, if people liked it then I could do a more in depth scene/ scenes later in the story where it would fit better, and if they didn't, then I could take it out and go with a backup plan for that scene, as well as think about other minor detail changes now. If you don't feel comfortable giving your opinion about it in a review, then a PM is fine as well; I just want to collect as many opinions as possible so I can get the best idea of what my readers think on the whole.**

 **Anyways, I hope that was enough negitoro to tide you over for another month, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and as always, thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone, back again with another chapter.**

 **First of all, apologies about the long delay, I got pretty bad writers block with this one; what was meant to only be a short filler/intermediate chapter ended needing to become a few more complicated things, hardest of all to write being a justification for the previous chapter in a story sense. So not long after starting I got pretty burnt out and stopped writing until basically a week ago, which brings me on to my next point.**

 **I'm not particularly happy with this chapter; in fact I think it's the worst one of the story so far, partly down to a couple months of not writing, the writer's block, a lack of a clear purpose for the chapter, and the fact that I definitely rushed to get this done have made this not come out as good as it could've been I feel.**

 **Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as well as for the pretty positive reaction to the foot fetish scene, of which there will now be a couple more of later on in the story.**

 **Also, this chapter might seem familiar or even repetitive, but that's kinda by design. From a production standpoint it means I can use locations or scenes again without having to set them up for the first time again, and can then build on the previous scene of the same type whilst keeping things familiar. But I think it also works in the sense of the story, where work; and working at an office especially can be very repetitive, and so the same sort of encounters are likely to happen multiple times given the constrained setting.**

 **Anyways, sorry again for the wait, but here it finally is. Hope you all enjoy.**

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Tuesday 28th August 2018

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It was mid Tuesday morning, just after ten o'clock when the tealette heard a new and unfamiliar voice from the back of the office. The high pitched, and distinctly non-Japanese accent catching her attention with ease; prompting her to poke her head around her cubicle wall to get a better look at just who had emerged from the elevator. "Who's that?" Miku whispered to herself, not having to wait very long for an answer when her pink haired boss greeted the blonde enthusiastically.

Luka had been near the back of the room on one of her frequent office check-ups when the elevator chimed, and so was naturally the first person to notice the arrival of the young woman. "SeeU!" She cheerily called out to the shorter woman, her voice catching the attention of her rather infrequently seen employee, steering her towards her as a result. "How are you? It feels like I haven't seen you in ages." She exclaimed as the bag laden blonde eventually arrived in front of her, thinking back to when she last saw SeeU when she sent her off on her lengthy assignment. "How was Korea?" She asked with genuine interest as she helped out with the cases full of cameras and other photography related equipment.

The blonde let out a sigh of relief with each heavy bag that was removed from her shoulders. "It was lovely; especially at this time of year… and it was nice to be back home again too." SeeU replied as she and her boss slowly made their way over to her cubicle. "Though as much as I like being back in Korea, three weeks at a time is a little much… I did move here to work in Japan after all." She joked as she began to set bag after bag down on her long since used desk.

Luka did the same; unloading her share of the cargo as she listened to the younger woman. "Sorry about that SeeU. I normally wouldn't send anyone overseas for that length of time, but to have all those contracts line up so perfectly, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to knock them all out in one go." She explained, getting a wave of the hand from the blonde to let her know it was alright. "Still, it was a lot of work, and if it's all up to standard - which knowing you, it will be - then you'll be getting a big bonus this month, let me tell you that." She felt the need to make clear, earning a pleased grin from the other woman in return. "But… you've still got a lot to do before that." She reminded her, picking up one of the cameras from the desk randomly. "Importing the pictures, processing them, editing them… and I bet you've got hundreds, maybe even thousands from a trip that long, hmm?"

SeeU nodded. "Yup, I think I took a couple thousand shots in total, so it'll be a lot of work to get it all done by the deadline… but, I'm sure I can do it." She declared proudly, before the sight of the camera her boss was holding jogged her memory. "Ahh, there was one problem during the trip though." She admitted, her tone catching the pinkette's attention effortlessly; a pink eyebrow rising with intrigue. "That camera… the one you're holding… I dunno, it just stopped worked properly near the end of the trip." She explained, but her vagueness only served to increase the look of concern on her boss's face. "Don't worry, I swapped it out as soon as I realised, and we only had to redo a single pose as a result… it's just, after that I couldn't get the darn thing working again." She elaborated, Luka breathing a sigh of relief at SeeU's words. "I spent like twenty minutes that night in the hotel with it, but I just couldn't figure out what went wrong. So I just thought I'd put it to one side and get Megurine-san, the master photographer to help me once I got back." She finished playfully, finding the way the pinkette scoffed at the term she'd used to be rather amusing.

"C'mon now, you know that's not who I am anymore." She joked in return, laughing along with the younger woman. "But even so, of course I'll take a look at it for you… I'm sure I can still remember my way around a camera just about." She added jokingly as she popped out the SD card, leaving with her with just the camera as she handed the data storage device back to SeeU. "In fact, I'll sort it out right now whilst I've got the time." She decided out loud as she gave the expensive piece of hardware a once over to check for signs of physical damage. "You get started on offloading all your files, and I'll come back to check on your work once I've gotten this all fixed up, how does that sound?" She instructed, getting a quick nod of agreement from the younger woman before she made her way to studio.

Whilst Luka had every intention of diagnosing and fixing the problem camera by herself, an idea suddenly popped into her head as she passed her teal haired employee's cubicle, prompting her to turn 180 and take a few steps back into the office, stopping next to the entrance of Miku's workspace. "Sorry to interrupt, everyone… but I could really use someone to help me with fixing this camera." She announced to the office, pausing for a few seconds to gauge who was interested. "Any volunteers?"

Multiple people had quickly stuck their hands up in response, with a few even going so far as to stand up from their seats to show their willingness to offer their assistance. Miku though… whilst she certainly was interested, she tried not to let it show too much; instead only just looking up at the pinkette from her seated position. "Should I?" She asked herself internally, not quite knowing if it was the right thing to do considering what happened last Friday. "What if it's awkward… what if she doesn't want me to?" She pondered, not really knowing where she stood with Luka at the moment was seriously affecting her decision, though the fact that she was also a tad apprehensive about being alone with the older woman again after everything was also making it difficult to decide.

Whilst her offer had technically be open to any member of staff, it really was only intended for one person alone; Luka had simply asked the whole office so it didn't seem like she was trying to single out the tealette. But, as the pinkette's pre-planned positioning put her right next to Miku's cubicle - and therefore pretty close to the woman herself - Luka was both able and justified in asking the tealette first, especially as she had definitely shown a hint of interest in the matter. "Hatsune-san, would you like to assist me?" She asked the younger woman, soon noticing the apprehensive and almost shocked look forming on her face in response. "Y-you don't have to if you don't want to… I just thought you looked interested…" She backpedalled, blushing faintly from her apparent misjudgement of the tealette.

Miku had been on the fence, but from feeling kind of put on the spot; what with plenty of people wanting to help but Luka having asked her first - the situation practically pressuring her to say yes - and from her boss' nervous, almost timid response to her reaction of being asked in the first place, the tealette felt it was best to go along with it. "No, no… I was… I am interested M-Megurine-san." She rather awkwardly bumbled through her reply, the colour of her cheeks now matching the older woman's. "I'd be happy to help."

"Thank you." She quickly offered to Miku before looking out over the office to address everyone at once. "And thank you all for offering, but I've got Hatsune-san helping me now." She announced, taking a moment to quell the rather displeased crowd, particularly the few unhappy members claiming that they asked first or were the most enthusiastic, apologising to them individually before turning back to the tealette. "Sorry about that… I didn't realise it would cause that much of a stir." She apologized a tad sheepishly, earning an understanding little nod from the shorter woman. "Anyways, now that that's sorted, why don't we head over to the studio and take a look at this thing, hmm?"

Miku hadn't expected that; she had guessed that whatever it was they were about to do would be able to be accomplished at her desk, but it was too late to back out now… it seemed she would have some truly alone time with her boss after all. "Y-yeah…" She said with a hint of nervousness as she got up and followed the older woman to the photography studio, soon finding herself alone and behind closed doors with Luka yet again. "So…" She started, sounding a little unsure of herself as she absentmindedly made her way over to the desk at the back of the room. "Umm… what is it you need me for exactly?"

Luka would be lying if she said she wasn't also a little nervous, especially now that she was finally alone with the tealette for the first time since last Friday; finally giving her the privacy to say what she had been wanting to since the weekend… though not before answering Miku's question first. "One of SeeU's cameras stopped working properly, and she's asked me to fix it for her." She briefly explained the technical side of things before moving on to why she needed someone to help. "And back in the day I was almost exclusively a people photographer; ninety-nine percent of the time I had someone… a person in front of my lens." She paused; checking to make sure Miku was still following. "I could probably fix the camera by myself, but it would be much quicker and easier for me if I had a subject to work with... and that's where you come in."

She took a moment to let the tealette digest the information, but also to prepare herself for what she was about to say next; looking down at the floor as she both figured out what she wanted to say, _and_ mustered up the will to say it in the first place. "But… but before we get to working on the camera, there's something more important that I have to take care of first." She declared, her voice sounding rather serious. "The real reason I asked for someone to help… for you specifically actually… it… it was so we could talk about what happened last week." She rather solemnly revealed, letting Miku have a moment to deal with her surprise before speaking again.

"I... I want to apologize again for what happened on Friday; f-for my behaviour… for going too far with you; I realise now that I what I did was completely unprofessional." Luka started again, her tone both serious and almost sombre, struggling to meet the younger woman's eyes as she spoke. "I'm not really sure why I got so carried away… I don't think I realised it during the… err… during the massage, but I could sense that you were uncomfortable after we had been interrupted by Kamui-san… I…"

Miku didn't know how to react; having gone from thinking she was just helping fix a camera, to having Luka apologising for the events of last Friday like they were the most dishonourable transgression imaginable was quite the unexpected turn of events. One thing she did know for sure was that she felt pretty bad for the older woman; here Luka was, her normally confident and composed boss, stuttering her way through a sincere and humble apology, cheeks pink as she wholeheartedly took the blame for everything… much to Miku's dismay. Not only was it hard to see the pinkette like this, it was made worse by the fact that Miku knew her boss wasn't to blame; at least not entirely… she had let things progress just as much as Luka had progressed them. "Luka…" She tried to interject, her voice coming out rather quietly due to the nervousness she felt from the situation. "Luka… wait." She managed a bit louder this time, successfully stopping the pinkette in her tracks, and thus giving her an opportunity to argue her side of the story. "It's really not…" She began, though she didn't get very far before the pinkette interrupted her in return.

"It's alright Miku, I… I need to say everything I've got to say… I want to do this properly." Luka said over the top of the tealette, causing the shorter woman to fall silent in acceptance of Luka's rather seriously delivered message, nodding at the pinkette for her to continue. "Like I was saying, I wasn't really aware of my behaviour during the whole thing. I… I was getting such a good reaction from you that I just kept on going… wanted to keep going for your sake; and I guess my inner masseuse must have taken over as I just wanted to get rid of all your stress." Luka explain half truthfully; whilst that had certainly be a part of her reasoning, she had also wanted things to keep going on Friday for her own selfish reasons… though she couldn't bear to admit that to the younger woman now. "I… I dunno, I felt really guilty for suggesting that you wear heels and causing you all that pain; I… I just wanted to help you out… but now I only feel guiltier for making you feel uncomfortable… for making things awkward between us even?" She went on, adding the last thought hesitantly as she was unsure whether things had gotten that way for the tealette already or not. "I'm… I'm really sorry Miku." She added solemnly, looking down at the floor as she awaited Miku's judgment.

The tealette stayed quiet as she let Luka get everything off her chest; just taking in her boss' worried apologies and serious sounding explanations before she naturally came to her conclusion, waiting a few seconds before replying just to make sure the pinkette was indeed fully finished. "It… it's alright Luka… there's really no need to apologize." Miku began, earning an incredulous expression from the older woman as she looked up at her; prompting her to elaborate. "Whilst what happened on Friday was certainly a little… unorthodox, and more than a little unexpected, I definitely didn't mind what you were doing." She explained, though Luka still didn't look overly convinced. "You didn't make me uncomfortable; if anything I was just more surprised at the turn of events… I wasn't expecting that you'd be willing to go that far for me… and… and I think that might've been what you were picking up on; it wasn't discomfort… more just surprise and simply not knowing how to react given that no-one has ever done something like that for me before." She explained rather disjointedly, having to pause to find the right words on more than one occasion.

The pinkette's expression softened somewhat as she listened to Miku's explanation, but whilst she was able to accept the points the younger woman made, she was still worried about their legitimacy. "A-are you sure? I don't want you to feel like you have to say that because I'm your boss or because of the situation or anything." Luka offered humbly; she truly felt that she had done wrong by the tealette, and would accept whatever punishment the younger woman wanted to give. "I want you to be honest with me… if you're holding something back in fear of getting in trouble then don't; please don't be afraid to speak your mind, Miku."

Miku flashed her boss an uneasy, but honest and genuine smile, partly to try and put Luka at ease, but also partly just from the cute and considerate way her boss was dealing with the situation. "It really is fine; everything I just said was the truth, Luka." She replied, still getting a not fully convinced look from the pink haired woman. "Think about it… if I had really been uncomfortable then I would've told you to stop… you didn't go that far… really; like you said, you were just helping me out." She explained, slowly chipping away at Luka's concerns. "If anything, it was probably hearing Kamui-san's voice that made me act a little strange afterwards; I didn't even know you had an intercom and so was a little startled when he first spoke." She added semi truthfully; whilst it had definitely been an unexpected and sudden interruption to the massage, the massage itself… and its unexpected effects were the cause of a lot of her awkward behaviour after… though she wasn't exactly just going to admit that fact to her boss, she just hoped that her explanation without the embarrassing parts would be enough to calm the pinkette down. "Honestly, I… I really enjoyed your massage, and was… and still am very thankful for you taking the time to do such a personal thing for me. As far as I'm concerned, you don't have anything to apologise for Luka."

Luka let out a small sigh of relief after hearing everything the tealette had to say; the clearly truthful and thought out response to all of her concerns feeling as though she had a massive weight lifted off her shoulders; the same weight that had been sitting on them since shortly after she had come down from the adrenaline rush of the massage on Friday, all the way through weekend, and into the week up until today; the pinkette glad that the main thing that had been bothering her had finally not only been addressed, but in quite the positive way too.

With that all cleared up, Luka subconsciously took a few steps towards the younger woman; closing the rather large gap she had left herself before as she now knew that Miku didn't hold any bad feelings for what had happened. "Good… well then…" Luka started as she reached out to place a hand on the shorter woman's shoulder without thinking, but soon stopped rather abruptly; blushing as she brought her hand back to rest by her side. "Umm… let's get back to the camera, hmm?" She hastily stated, before moving swiftly to go to hide behind it.

Even though Miku had accepted her apology; essentially saying that it wasn't even really needed in the first place, the pinkette still felt it would be inappropriate to be touching Miku given the circumstances. Given just how far she had gone on Friday, Luka honestly still felt like she needed to be on her best behaviour around the shorter woman, even if only just for a little while just in case Miku wasn't as okay with everything as she had said she was… even if it did potentially slow down the progress of their still blossoming relationship; the pinkette figured it would be better to play it safe for now. "So… I guess I should have asked earlier..." She said as she span back around to face the tealette; having been looking the other way to both let her blush die down, and to think about behaving herself for the time being. "But, are you okay with being photographed?" She asked in a much more cheery and light-hearted manner than the more serious one from earlier, earning a nod from the tealette in response. "Great, then if you could just stand in the same spot as when we did your ID card, and I'll get the camera all set up." She instructed politely, getting another little nod from the younger woman in response.

With that, Miku made her way over to the centre of the long white wall, whilst Luka effortlessly got everything sorted with SeeU's camera; the tasks of getting it affixed to the awaiting tripod and booting it up being accomplished solely with muscle memory rather than conscious thought; the pink haired woman still having a real knack for the more practical side of things despite now working in the office rather than out in the field. "Wow… she wasn't kidding when she said it was messed up." Luka said more to herself than Miku shortly after the camera came to life, looking at the device's small screen almost incredulously. "It's so blurry that I can barely even tell that it's you over there..." She exclaimed to the younger woman, pausing to take another look at the garbled image. "The only thing it's really picking up on is the teal of your hair; and that's only because there's so much of it…" She explained as she looked out over the camera at the tealette, hesitating for an indecisive second before rather timidly speaking again. "It… umm… it looks great today by the way… your hair, I mean." She complimented sincerely, the slightest hint of a blush returning to her cheeks as she went to connect to faulty device to the computer.

Miku's cheeks turned a similar colour at the pinkette's welcome words of praise, her heart noticeably beating a little faster from Luka's compliment; though not for the usual reasons. Normally, it was the rather flirty and seductive way her boss complimented her that made her heart race; her words usually dripping with sensual undertones that were often whispered into her ear, that when coupled with the older woman's usual closeness and touches made her react strongly every time. But the sincere… almost shy way her boss had delivered the compliment made her heart beat quickly for completely different reasons; the sincerity behind her words, the cute way that Luka had said them, and just the way she was being extra sweet and careful around her - presumably from still feeling a tad shy and unsure of herself after the whole foot massage thing - all contributed to the warm feeling inside her chest, as well as the soft smile gracing her lips.

But, before Miku could think about it for too much longer, the older woman had finished plugging the camera into the computer; allowing her to finally see the real time image that the faulty device was outputting. "I… err… thank you, Luka…" She began after the fairly long pause whilst she had been off in her head once again. "Wow, it really does look pretty terrible." She remarked incredulously, getting a nod of agreement from the taller woman as she made her way back over to the tripod. "Do you think you'll be able to fix it?"

Luka smiled at the shorter woman's rather innocently asked question. "I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." She replied cheerily as she began to adjust a couple of the primary settings, wanting to rule out some of the more obvious causes first. "Though I must say it's been a long time since I've seen a camera this far gone… hopefully it's still salvageable though." She went on, adding the last part light-heartedly before getting down to business. Without wasting any time, she started working her way through menu after menu of in depth modes and settings, all whilst finely tuning the physical knobs and switches on the body of the device, solving each problem one at a time and slowly bringing the camera back in working order.

Even though she had only been brought in to help as a subject in front of the camera, the tealette's wealth of experience in the field - whilst not exactly professional in nature, more her own personal understanding through years of casual photography - finally had an opportunity to be useful. "Have you tried increasing the shutter speed?" Miku asked somewhat confidently; whilst she knew a lot about photography, she was pretty sure that her boss knew even more, and so decided to ask in a more reserved manner just in case she was wrong to suggest such a simple thing.

Luka paused at the younger woman's suggestion; partly as she felt kinda silly for not thinking of something like that sooner, but mostly from being quite impressed with Miku's rather in-depth knowledge. "I hadn't, but I'm sure that would help a lot actually… good idea Miku!" She praised with a smile as she adjusted the setting, the picture noticeably improving along with it. "You definitely seem to know you stuff about cameras… any more ideas?" She complimented encouragingly, before asking with genuine interest.

As much as she liked it when the pinkette complimented her on her appearance, it almost felt even better to Miku when her talents and skills were praised, especially by someone as distinguished and experienced as Luka. "Th-thank you… I… umm… have you tried checking the lens?" She somewhat nervously asked, partly from feeling a little flustered at her boss's kind words just now, and from still being a little unsure of what to say. "It might be dirty or damaged; even something small can sometimes have a big effect."

"Another great suggestion, sweetie!" Luka called out supportively before removing the lens, making sure to give it a more thorough inspection than the quick once over she had given the whole camera earlier; quickly spotting the small crack in the glass, just as the younger woman had predicted. "Right again! I must say I'm impressed Miku." She praised enthusiastically, before quickly going to, and then searching through the small cupboard in the corner of the room, returning to the tripod after a short but successful rummage, and wasting no time in affixing the new lens to the awaiting camera.

With it came a significant increase in the picture quality, and with Miku's earlier suggestion, plus all the tweaks she had already done by herself, it only took a little more fine tuning before the pinkette was able to get everything perfect again. "Well, it looks like we managed to get it all sorted… thanks for your input by the way." She offered with a playful wink, getting a modest nod from the shorter woman in return. "Though, to make sure everything is working as expected, would you mind if we did a little… photoshoot?" She asked a tad sheepishly, quickly following up with a clarification. "It's really just to test the camera under different conditions; I'll delete the photos after we're done."

The tealette was a little apprehensive at first, but hearing that the results of the photoshoot wouldn't be kept helped put her mind her ease; for such a shutterbug Miku really wasn't that fond of being in front of the camera. "N-no… not at all, that sounds like fun." She replied, sounding both enthusiastic and still a little nervous at the same time.

Luka couldn't help but pick on the subtle tone of apprehensiveness, but as the tealette had indeed shown some genuine interest, she decided to continue with the idea rather than backpedal. "Great! You'll be fine, don't worry… just be yourself." She offered reassuringly, glad to see Miku's expression soften somewhat. "It's not like its serious; just a more relaxed and casual few minutes and we'll be done." She said with a slight upward infliction towards the end, forming her statement into more of a question to make sure the younger woman was still on board with everything; Miku's determined nod that followed shortly after confirming that fact to the pinkette.

With that the pink and teal duo got started; Luka quickly taking the first of many pictures of her teal haired subject. She began a little stiff and rather quiet; focusing on simply taking a picture or two before adjusting the light or the camera itself subtly, but after about a minute Luka found herself quickly slipping back into her previous role as a photographer all too easily, quite enjoying the nostalgic feeling that doing something like this helped to produce. "I didn't realise how much I missed this job." She joked to the tealette as she took another shot of her, pleased with the preview of her smiling at what she had said. "I had almost forgotten how fun it was to do something like this…" She paused to take another picture, before quickly turning up the brightness of the lamps illuminating the shorter woman before speaking again. "… And with such a great subject too."

"Ahh… thank you Luka..." Miku offered appreciatively; whilst her boss hadn't directly complimented her, it was still a nice thing of her to say, even if she didn't quite believe it herself. "I'm nothing special though… not even a great photographer like yourself could make me look good." She offered with an awkward laugh, hardly even realising that what she intended to be a compliment to the pinkette was instead more of an insult to herself; years of both being put down by others, as well as putting herself down resulting in her not even noticing that she had said something so harsh about herself.

Luka however, couldn't help but notice it… how could she not? Putting the photoshoot on hold for a moment, the older woman stood up fully from the camera; looking out over it at the now slightly confused tealette. "Miku…" She called out softly, instantly gaining the younger woman's attention with just the tone she had used. "Sweetheart…" She added instinctively, the almost whispered term of endearment causing Miku' eyes to meet with her own; making sure to use the opportunity to give the tealette a soft, almost loving stare… holding it for a few seconds as she gave her employee a look of warmth and fondness. "You don't need a photographer to make you look good; you do that all by yourself naturally." She truthfully offered, smiling softly at the woman across from her. "You're incredibly photogenic and… well… honestly… really very beautiful too…" She complimented sincerely, her tone gentle as she spoke quietly.

Miku blushed a deep pink at her boss' words, her lips curving into a shy little smile against her will. The look Luka had given her; staring deeply into her eyes with such warmth and compassion… the almost heartfelt words of encouragement that fell from her lips so softly… all of it together made her feel kind of embarrassed; though not because of the normal reasons. Luka was being so sweet with her, and even though she was normally very pleasant with her and everyone else for that matter, Miku couldn't help but notice that the pinkette was being extra nice and supportive today; her emotive words and expressive face having quite the strong effect on her. "D-do… you really mean that?" She hesitantly asked as she looked up from the floor, meeting with her boss' stunning blue eyes again despite her still pink cheeks.

Luka's smile widened at her favourite employee's reaction. "Of course I do sweetie, I wouldn't say something like that if I didn't mean it." She explained softly, wanting to make sure Miku knew for certain that she was serious about her earlier comment. "You really should have more faith in yourself Miku." She felt the need to add, making sure to follow up with another sincere and caring look, glad to see Miku seemingly taking her words on board; the younger woman standing up straight and looking back at the camera with noticeably more confidence, though not before flashing her boss an appreciative little smile as well. "Ready to pick up where we left off?"

After a quick nod and short verbal response from the tealette, Luka quickly got back to work; soon slipping back into her photography groove from a minute ago. It wasn't long before she was calling out various poses and instructions to the younger woman just like she had done years ago during her time as a professional photographer, even going so far as to remove the camera from the tripod, allowing her to really re-live her past life as she proceeded to capture the tealette freehand just like she used to enjoy doing; taking shots from various different angles and distances.

Miku was honestly enjoying herself too; much more than she would have expected. Being as camera shy as she was, the tealette had been more than a little scared about the prospect of being the subject of a photoshoot; the fact that it was with Luka and was only casual being the only things that allowed her to let herself go through with it. But despite that fact, Miku found herself to be actually be getting quite into it; no longer feeling shy or intimated by the camera being pointed at her, and instead actually posing and reacting according to her boss' directions. Though she was sure that was only because the pink haired woman was amazing at what she did… Luka was clearly meant to be behind a camera; the mixture of her unrivalled skill and incredible charisma made it almost impossible not to want to play up to her instructions, even for someone as reserved and shy as the tealette. The older woman was effortlessly able to bring her subject out of their shell, be it by making them feel relaxed by joking around and keeping things casual with them, understanding their limitations and working around them without even bringing attention to them, or by pushing them out of their comfort zone just a smidge by making them pose in a particular way… Luka always found a way to get the most out her subject and yet keep them happy and comfortable at the same time.

"Can you do a serious expression for me sweetie?" The pink haired photographer requested, now standing only a few meters away after having slowly closed the distance over a couple dozen photos and a handful of previous poses. "It could be anger… perhaps sorrow… or just plain moody, whatever works for you." She suggested professionally, the younger woman going with the first option as she put her hands on her hips, and put on a mock pout as she furrowed her eyebrows in faux frustration. "Perfect, you're a natural Miku… let me just adjust the light and I'm sure we'll get a great shot out of this one." She explained, before fine-tuning the angle of the main lamp and then taking the photo, quickly checking the preview before turning back to Miku. "It looks great! How about a silly expression next?"

Miku couldn't help but grin in response, partly from the pinkette's kind words of encouragement, but mostly at Luka's enthusiasm. Her boss was already a normally cheery and happy person, but she looked absolutely overjoyed that she was getting to do something like this again; the tealette glad that Luka definitely seemed to be enjoying herself. "Great!" She parroted back in reply to Luka's earlier exclamation, before a look of mild confusion began to form on her face. "Silly expression? What sort of thing did you have in mind?"

The pinkette stopped to think for a second before shrugging shortly after; she wasn't after any one thing specifically from the younger woman, just something light-hearted, a tad foolish perhaps, but most of all just something fun. "Anything you want sweetie; whatever works for you." She openly offered; though the freedom of choice only seemed to make the shorter woman look a bit more lost. "A funny face… a… a goofy look; anything…" She tried to come up with inspiration for the tealette; but as nothing seemed to be doing it for the unsure looking Miku, Luka quickly decided that a demonstration was in order. "Here, you could do something like this…" Luka began as she adjusted her grip on the camera so she was able to hold it with just one hand, before putting the index finger of her free hand into her mouth, curling it around the inside of her cheek, and then pulling it up and off to the side, whilst at the same time making sure to cross her eyes and just generally make as stupid of a face as possible; the transition from professional manager to an unexpectedly silly fool happening in less than a second; catching Miku off guard completely.

Just as quickly as the pinkette had put on her rather ridiculous looking face, Miku transitioned from confused, through a brief period of surprise, before finally ending up bursting out laughing in response to her boss' actions. "What…?" She had tried to question the older woman, but the need to laugh at Luka's wacky behaviour quickly got in the way of her ability to talk; the younger woman requiring a good few seconds to get enough of the humorous energy out of her system before she could try again. "Where… where did that come from, Luka?!" She managed to ask before breaking out in another fit of laughter as she caught another glimpse of the pinkette's outlandish expression.

Instead of answering right away, Luka waited until the tealette was no longer focused on her admittedly odd expression - courtesy of being so caught up in her fit of laughter that she could barely even see anymore - and used the opportunity to quickly bring her camera back up and level; wasting no time in lining everything up before skilfully capturing a great shot of Miku's face. "Perfect…" She whispered to herself after checking the preview. A silly expression would have been good to get on film, but what she got instead was even better; that being Miku smiling brightly in the middle of a large laugh, her face showing nothing but unbridled joy; free of any of the subtle but ever present negative emotions the younger woman often carried on her face. And to top it all off, as the photo had been taken whilst the tealette was caught unawares, it shared that same special quality as the one of the embarrassed tealette from her ID card photo session - that raw and candid realness that Luka sought to capture at least once per photoshoot - and as such, Luka instantly knew that this was the one shot that she absolutely wanted to keep this time.

And so, she stood there in silence wearing her own little smile as she simply watched the shorter woman gradually wind down from her joyous laughter, waiting until she eventually had her attention to speak. "I dunno, but I'm glad it had such an effect." She offered as an answer to the tealette's earlier question, before spinning the camera around and showing Miku the preview that was still displayed on the small screen. "It meant I got to take this photo, so I think that's worth looking a little silly… don't you think?" She asked, looking at the now slightly pink faced tealette; the younger woman seemingly a little embarrassed, but not displeased at the sight of herself looking so unrestrainedly happy for once. "It's such a great photo of you… and it would fit so well with my little tradition… so… would you mind if I kept this one too?"

Miku didn't really have any objections to her boss wanting to keep the photo; in fact she was quite pleased by both the notion that Luka would want to again, as well as hearing all the nice things she had had to say about it. She was however a little worried for a more technical reason. "No, I don't mind… but isn't that SeeU's camera?" She asked despite knowing the answer already, her question causing a look of slight confusion to form on the taller woman's face. "Isn't the picture on her SD card then? I don't mind if you keep it, but… but I don't want anyone else to see it."

Luka flashed her employee an understanding smile. "No need to worry about that… it may be SeeU's camera, but I used my own personal SD card for testing; so only I have the photo sweetie." She explained, pausing to let Miku think over her decision, beaming back at the younger woman with pleased gratitude when she gave a nod of confirmation a few seconds later. "Thank you Miku. It really means a lot to me to be able to keep photos like this… especially ones as special as yours." She offered with a soft smile, giving her employee a look of sincere thanks for a few drawn out moments before moving on with things. "Well then, I'm pretty sure we've taken enough photos for testing purposes… hell, I'm sure we did a while ago, but I was having so much fun that I couldn't resist continuing for as long as I could get away with." She explained, her last remark putting a smile on the younger woman's face; Luka glad to see that Miku seemed to share the same sentiment. "So, why don't we go and check them for any issues on the computer, hmm?"

After a little nod and a short walk, the pink and teal pair found themselves standing in front of the computer much as they had been when reviewing the tealette's ID photos before. Though in the back of her mind, Miku was conscious of both the fact that her boss was standing a few feet behind her - rather than the few inches like last time - and that she was also missing the close contact from before; the rather vivid memory currently playing through her mind of Luka practically breathing down her neck as she held onto her hips leaving her feeling a little… neglected at the moment as the pinkette kept her distance. Though, she soon shook her head at herself for thinking like that; she really shouldn't be having such inappropriate thoughts like that with her boss standing behind her, nor should she even be wishing to feel Luka's delicate hands on her body again for Kaito's sake… even if she knew just how good they could feel. "So… ahem… what exactly are we looking for?" She questioned after a few seconds of spacing out, looking over her shoulder at the taller woman as she spoke.

Luka smiled back at the younger woman. "We're looking for any signs of the camera not functioning properly; so that means any visual artefacts like missing pixels or lines across the image, as well as making sure that the settings are dialled in correctly; so hopefully no blurry or out of focus photos." Luka explained professionally, pausing to take a breath before continuing. "But I think this would be a great opportunity for another little test of your skills, and so I'll leave this task mostly up to you, okay?" She proposed, hints of concern appearing on Miku's face. "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll do fine. And besides, I'll be right here checking them too… it's not like I could give SeeU her camera back if it's still not working correctly."

With that, Luka took a back seat and simply supervised from behind as Miku got to work looking through the images, the younger woman quickly disregarding the first dozen or so that were taken during the initial testing and so were completely unusable as a result, but it wasn't long before they arrived at the first image of the photoshoot and could properly get to work looking for issues. As her employee scanned through each image thoroughly, Luka simply observed from her position a small distance away in an effort to keep the situation friendly rather than intense like last time, but even from a few feet away the pinkette could see that these were some truly awesome photos; and not even really from her skill as an experienced photographer, but because the model in front of the camera was simply amazing to look at. "Wow…" She whispered to herself, though her voice still managed to catch the shorter woman's attention. "You… you look great in these, Miku." She commented almost incredulously; they had turned out even better than the previews had let on. "It would be a shame to lose you as a member of staff… but you should really think about working in front of the camera instead of behind it."

Miku turned on the spot to face the taller woman, looking up at her with hints of confusion and disbelief showing on her face. "Th-thanks, but I have no intention of doing that; I've always wanted to work in photography, and I love my job here." She offered in reply, casting her eyes downwards subconsciously. "And besides, it's not like anyone would hire me to be a model; I'm… okay I guess, but nothing special at all really."

Luka's expression adopted a certain sad and sympathetic look as she listened to what the younger woman had to say about herself. "Fair enough, it's good to hear that you're enjoying working hear and doing what you love." Luka started, stepping forward just enough for Miku to notice, and therefore look back up to meet with her eyes. "But you're not 'just okay'… far from it sweetie." She offered softly as she made use of air quotes, before motioning to the photo of the tealette displayed on the screen. "You're clearly incredibly photogenic, you're young, have the most flawless skin I've ever seen and are both almost unreasonably cute and stunningly good looking at the same time." She complimented sincerely, staring back into the tealette's eyes intently. "Just your hair alone makes you stand out from the competition… I know you said you wouldn't be interested, and that's fine… but you could easily be a very successful model with you attributes; but like I said before, you just need more faith in yourself sweetheart."

Miku's breath caught in her throat. Luka was looking at her with such sincerity and compassion, and her words were delivered with such conviction and honesty… it was no wonder that her heart was fluttering with both nervousness and emotion; Luka was being such a sweetheart that it was almost impossible for the younger woman to not react in such a manner. "B-but… I'm just…"

Luka simply couldn't help but gently place her hand on Miku's shoulder after hearing her almost frail voice begin what was likely going to be another self-loathing statement, the soft squeeze she gave stopping Miku dead in her tracks. "But nothing…" She whispered emotively as she reached out for the shorter woman's face, stopping and pulling back slightly once she remembered that she really shouldn't given the prior circumstances. Though, as she retracted her hand, it almost looked as if Miku was upset or even slightly offended at the action… almost as if she wanted Luka to reach out and give her that same gentle touch that she had experienced once before already.

And so, after searching her eyes for a second, and getting nothing but green lights to continue from the shorter woman, Luka closed the distance between them to just a couple of inches as she took a step towards her, before reaching up and brushing the hair from Miku's face with the most gentle of movements, and then finally cupped the impossibly soft cheek of the younger woman tenderly. "I wasn't lying or joking with what I said before, you really are a beautiful woman Miku… not to mention smart, talented, and just about the sweetest person one could ever hope to meet… and yet… for some reason, you don't see yourself that way… do you?" Luka asked, her voice hitching just a little from the amount of emotion following through it, the question earning a small shake of the head from Miku in response. "I wish I could go back and find out who did this to you… I don't care who it was, but I'd give them a piece of my mind and then some…" She continued, the sentiment serious but the way she delivered it being rather light-hearted, succeeding in brightening the tone a little and bringing a subtle smile to the tealette's lips. "I dunno… I wish… I just wish you could see what I see in you Miku." Luka concluded, stroking the other woman's cheek with her thumb gently.

As the tealette stood there, taking in all the kind words that her boss had to say, and revelling in the feeling of her soft hand holding her face so tenderly - even going so far as to subconsciously nuzzle into its comforting warmth - she couldn't help but start to seriously think about a relationship with the older woman. Up until now she had mostly just been crushing on the pinkette; Luka was one of the nicest and most pleasant people she had ever met, but it was mostly the physical side of things…that being Luka's stunning appearance and the touchy feely way she was around her that had captured her attention. But now, in the last ten minutes with the older woman during the photoshoot, and especially during those last ten seconds with Luka being so incredibly sweet to her... still being a little shy and reserved herself after the whole foot massage confusion and apology, Miku's heart was beating hard for completely different reasons than usual.

In that moment as she stroked her cheek so softly… looked at her with such sincere eyes brimming with compassion… and gave her a smile that was so genuine and only just for her, Miku couldn't help but feel as if she had emotionally fallen for pinkette a little. Luka was such a sweetheart; always so caring and considerate with her, and yet at the same time she was still so mature and cool; someone for her to look up to and who she aspired to be like… and it was because of this and so much more that Miku couldn't help but think what a relationship with her would be like; what it would be like to have someone like Luka as her partner… epically when she considered the stark personality contrast between the pinkette and her current blue haired boyfriend as well.

As that thought, and a dozen others regarding the pinkette and their current and potential future relationship played on her mind for a good few seconds, Luka was more than happy just to be able to share this sweet little moment with the younger woman; simply caressing Miku's cheek lovingly with her thumb as the teal haired woman took the time to mull over everything. "Th-thank you… for everything you said." Miku whispered after a good long while off in her thoughts, looking back at the taller woman with a smile after having looked away to think only just before. "I'll… I'll try to think better of myself from now on too… for you."

Luka's lower lip trembled with barely contained emotion as it stretched into a smile to match the tealette's. "Thank you… but do it for yourself too, okay sweetie?" She instructed softly, earning a little nod from the shorter woman, as well as an adorable hint of shyness finding its way into her already heart-warming smile.

As much as she would have loved to simply spend the whole day just losing herself in her employee's mesmerising teal eyes, the pinkette eventually had to reluctantly pull both her hand and herself away from Miku after only a few more seconds of guilty indulgence in her. "Ahem… good, now that that's all sorted, we should probably get back to work, hmm?" She suggested as she quickly returned to her professional manager persona from the more caring one of just a moment ago. "It looks like the camera was functioning fine… so I guess that means your test was passed before it even begun." She joked as she moved beside the shorter woman, wanting to quickly double check the images herself just in case. "Yup, I would say that camera is well and truly fixed, so all that's left to do is transfer that photo and delete the rest then… even if it is kind of a shame to get rid of shots as good as these..." She declared with a pause just in case Miku had changed her mind and wanted to interject. "Well then… thanks for your help with this Miku; but I think I've got things from here. Why don't you head back to your desk for now, and I'll be out shortly for that advanced editing training your group has lined up today, okay?" She instructed politely, waiting until Miku was at the door before calling out to her one last time. "Oh… and Miku…! Don't forget to keep your head up, okay?"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

As lunchtime slowly approached Miku passed the time with some editing; sitting at her desk just working away the minutes until she could fill her empty stomach. But, rather than her usual fast pace and dedication to the task at hand, the tealette was taking a more leisurely approach to her workload; partly because it wouldn't be long until she had an hour away from her desk, and so there wasn't any reason to rush only to have start something new just before leaving, but mostly because thoughts of her boss were taking up a considerable amount of her attention. She was glad to have everything cleared up and back to normal between them; the slight awkwardness and uncertainty after the foot massage having thankfully been addressed earlier… but what she couldn't stop thinking about was the more emotional side of things with the pinkette; the thoughts and feelings she had experienced earlier in the studio having been the main thing running through her head since then.

But, just as she was replaying Luka's supportive and emotively uttered words of advice and praise, the sound of her email notification went off, snapping her out of her thoughts and prompting her to quickly check her inbox; rather surprised to see that it was both from none other than Luka herself, and that it seemed to have a few files attached as well.

Miku opened it without hesitation, and after a brief pause whilst it loaded, was met with three images of herself below a small chunk of text; the one of her smiling that Luka had asked to keep, as well as a couple others from the shoot that she remembered the pinkette specifically commented on after she took them. "Hatsune-san, I just wanted to say what a great job you did today again; not only did we get the camera fixed nice and quickly thanks to you, but I'm pretty sure we both had a lot of fun during testing (I know I did at least :p )." Miku read as her eyes scanned across the text, smiling at the older woman's use of an emoji. "Anyways, thanks again for letting me relive my time as a photographer, I can't believe how good the whole shoot came out, but you look great in these ones especially." Luka had continued, leaving just one line of text left for the tealette to read. "And make sure you don't forget my advice; don't forget to believe in yourself Miku. Sincerely, Luka."

The tealette grinned to herself as she finished reading, finding both the casual tone of Luka's email, and the words of encouragement it contained to be both amusing and comforting at the same time. "What a great boss…" Miku murmured to herself before going to close the message, but only just then noticed the tops of another line of words peeking out from the bottom of the screen, quickly scrolling down to see what else the pinkette had written. "P.S. Please do let me know if you're not comfortable with me keeping these as well. I just couldn't bear to delete them given how incredible they are, but if you really don't want them to exist then I can still get rid of them… I hope you're not angry at me for keeping them without your permission, had I known how good they would turn out then I never would've said about deleting them in the first place."

Miku could scarcely believe that someone as considerate, as supportive, and as sweet as Luka could even exist, much less be her boss at her dream job. And yet, as amazing as it was to have someone like the pinkette already play such a big part in her life, Miku couldn't help but kinda greedily wish that she was an even more important part of it… after reading her email on top of everything that had happened already today, Miku seriously couldn't help but think what a perfect girlfriend Luka would make as well.

 **o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Like I said, I'm not overly happy with this chapter, I feel like the quality of both the content and the polish on it could be better if I hadn't rushed this as much as I did. Also, apologies for the abrupt ending to the photography scene and the chapter as a whole, the word count was getting too high again as always, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it out on time so I condensed a few things to save time.**

 **Anyways, I hope it was still enjoyable enough of a read; I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter like always, and make sure to be on the lookout for the next chapter sooner than you might think.**

 **Thanks again.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry this isn't a chapter as promised; the next chapter was almost finished and to be released today on Miku's birthday and the 1 year anniversary of the story, but after running out of steam with that, this message was going to be at the end of chapter 8 anyway, but as I can't bring myself to finish that either, I'll just post it on its own instead.**

 **I think it's time for me to call it quits here on fanfiction. Honestly, I really don't enjoy writing, and whilst I like telling a story, and would love to be able to finish this story given all the planning that went into it, I just can't justify forcing myself to spend hours writing anymore. Back when there was a lot more people interested in reading negitoro I didn't mind taking the time to write as the reward was greater. But now with less free time and energy than ever before, I just can't justify spending 20 or more hours per chapter on something that only a hundred people read, and then only a handful leave a comment on… it's not sustainable for me to keep putting more and more effort into something than before, only for it to get less and less views… I honestly don't know how people can continue writing chapter after chapter after getting no reviews, as when I get only a few it leaves me feeling depressed for days.**

 **And so, to ease the burden on my mental health and give myself some much needed free time back, I think it's best for me to quit fanfiction for good this time; as even if I only put out one chapter a year, I'd still feel like crap when it only gets a fraction of the attention of what I once got.**

 **I know I probably sound stupid and selfish whining about not getting enough reviews, but I thought I best to let people know of both my intentions and the reasons behind them rather than just never updating again… I just think it's finally time to put fanfiction behind me and move on with my life.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed in the past. I'm sorry that I won't be finishing what I started.**

 **Though if anyone is interested, I might be able to find the time to clean up the rough plan of the rest of the story and post that, as it almost seems a shame to let all that work go to waste and never be seen, though that wouldn't be for months anyway I would imagine.**


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